Harry Potter and the Battle Within
by Phoenix-Flame-Fantasy
Summary: 6th year, set after OotP, Harry has to fight against Voldermort physically and mentally... DISCONTINUED FOR NOW.
1. Chapter 1

Hi to all people who know me, and all of you who don't, I'm Phoenix-Flame-Fantasy or you can just call me KT. 

This is my first fanfic, so i'm a little nervous that this could go terribly wrong, but i'm going to make an attempt anyway.

I would gladly accept opinions (who wouldn't?) and ideas on how i can make this better in anyway, i will take no offence. If i've made any mistakes it would be helpful if you pointed them out for me, because basically, i'm rubbish at spotting them.

I'm warning everyone in advance that my chapters are very long so i'll only post an update once a week, so it gives my more time to write more at home.

Don't worry, i won't abandon my readers (hopefully) and i'll keep you updated on where i am.

For example i'll update this bit below about my chapters...

**Chapter 11**- in progress

Before i start, i would like to say that i don't like taking parts out of the original books, but the beginning of the first chapter is taken out of OotP because if you use logic, the scene is watched from Harry's point of veiw meaning that if i changed it, i would be changing his perspective.

Ok, that doesn't make sense, but you might understand better once you've read it, so without further a do i present **Harry Potter and the Battle Within**

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DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling so i don't own it sadly... 

**Chapter 1**  
_Harry stood in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.  
There are spells shooting in all directions but he doesn't care, his attention is focused on the two people in the centre of the large room.  
There was Sirius duelling with his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange.  
It was a fight between good and evil, but this was real life, not a fairytale.  
Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her  
'Come on you can do better than that!' he yelled  
The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.  
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.  
Harry ran towards him, pulling out his wand.  
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.  
Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.  
A voice echoed in his head…  
'There's nothing you can do Harry…nothing…he's gone.'_

Harry Potter woke with a start; he was covered in a cold sweat and was breathing very fast.  
He had been having the same dream repeatedly, almost every time he fell asleep.

His breathing slowed down gradually as he stared up at the ceiling.   
_Haven't I thought about it enough when I'm awake?_ Harry asked himself.  
He would have given almost anything for a dreamless sleep potion.

Harry sat upright in bed and tore the bed sheets off him, knowing he wasn't going to get anymore sleep.  
Running a hand through his untidy black hair he groped around for his glasses.

After putting them on, it brought everything into sharper focus.  
The room around him was a mess; his desk was littered with bits of parchment, quills and school books, which he was reading to keep his mind on something else other than his Godfather.  
On the floor was his luggage bag which he had not unpacked and had been living out of for the past four weeks. Clothes were spilling out and shards of glass were visible, from the mirror he had thrown in and smashed while packing at school.  
The bird cage on top of the wardrobe smelt terrible as it had not been cleaned out for a long time. It was so bad, that Hedwig, his Snowy Owl, only came to visit him every three days to collect the usual letter to send to the Order, to tell them he was fine.

Harry slowly took in his environment and dimly registered the mess, he didn't care, nothing mattered anymore…not since…Sirius' death…  
As if magically attracted he looked over at his bedside cabinet.  
His wand lay there, dusty and unused, and next to it a photo album, that had been left open on a certain page.

He picked it up for what must have been the hundredth time and smiled weakly at the picture of his mum and dad on their wedding day with their best man, Harry's Godfather Sirius.  
The picture was moving, as most wizard pictures do.  
They were smiling and waving up at him, happily oblivious to their fate.  
The thought that had been going through his head for the past four weeks came to him again.  
_They're all gone…I'm all alone…_

Footsteps coming up the stairs broke into his thoughts and he hastily took the photo of his, mother, father and Sirius out and stuffed it under his pillow. He leaned forward and shoved the photo album under his bed.  
He sat back into a comfortable position and waited, wondering if any of the Dursley's would remember that it was his sixteenth birthday today, but his hopes were not very high.

There was a gentle tapping on the door his Aunt Petunia edged into the room carrying a bowl of soup and a spoon.  
She handed them to Harry without a word and sat opposite from him on a chair.  
Folding her bony arms she started to stare at Harry as if waiting for something.

When he didn't make any movement, her eyes narrowed.  
"Eat!" she ordered.  
"If you don't eat those, _people_, will think we're not treating you right and will come here…"  
She shuddered at the thought of it.  
"Eat!" his Aunt ordered again.  
Harry complied and started to drink his soup with the spoon.  
He didn't feel like eating, but he didn't feel like arguing either.  
He was used to this, it had happened at the same time, every day for the past three weeks.

It started when Harry came home to Privet Drive after the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry.  
He had gone straight up to his room, before his uncle could say one word, and locked himself in.  
He wasn't ready to face the world after what had happened; he was still blaming himself for Sirius' death.  
As Harry would hardly ever leave his room, Aunt Petunia had taken to passing food through the cat flap in his door, which had been placed some years previously.  
Harry hardly even moved from his bed, let alone the room, so the plates of food and cups remained untouched, until there was a weeks worth of food piled high just inside the door.  
Aunt Petunia used common sense (something that surprised Harry) and realised he wasn't eating. She got her husband Vernon to smash open the door and remove the lock.  
Now he was forced to eat, even if what he got was always small in amount, and was carefully watched by his aunt.

He looked up from his half-finished soup to see that she was glaring at him with her steely blue eyes, so he glared right back with his dull green eyes.  
He thought miserably to himself that she was his only living relative left.  
If you compared his aunt and his mother, you would have never guessed they were sisters, and his aunt never acted like she even had a sister at all.

Harry had always imagined what it would have been like not to have been made to live with the Dursleys, with his aunt, uncle and stupid, Cousin Dudley.  
He had hoped he could have lived in an orphanage instead, because that was what he was, an orphan.

His parents died when he was only one year old in their own home.  
They were murdered, trying to protect him from the darkest wizard of all time, Lord Voldermort.  
He had been on a mad quest to destroy Harry but failed and almost destroyed himself, leaving Harry with his famous lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.  
Just over a month ago Harry had discovered why.  
A prophecy was made that he was destined to fulfil….

_'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…  
Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…  
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…'_

As Harry thought of these words it brought him sudden sadness.  
He looked down at his soup feeling suddenly sick and then closed his eyes and sighed.  
"Are you alright?"  
Harry jumped, spilling hot soup down him and onto the bed.  
He had completely forgotten his aunt was still there.  
"What did you do that for!" she screeched "now I'll have to change your sheets...GET UP!"

Harry walked over to the window, considering changing his soup stained clothes.  
He peered outside and realised there was a group of four people at the front door.  
His spirit soared, thinking it was his friends coming to visit him for his Birthday, since it was today.  
But on closer inspection he saw it was Dudley's gang, making him feel more miserable than before.

Piers Polkiss was at the front of the group, he had been one of Dudley's best friends for as long as he could remember.  
He was still as scrawny as ever, though he was taller.  
His rat like face was screwed up in anger and he seemed to be arguing with somebody at the door. Harry guessed it was Dudley.  
The house shook as the front door was slammed in their faces and they stood there for a few seconds looking stunned.

As they turned to leave, Piers looked up at Harry's window.  
When piers saw Harry, his face turned from a look of confusion to hatred.  
He nudged the others around him and they all looked up at him, all with the same expression of hatred on their faces.  
Harry stared down at them with a puzzled expression, he had no idea what that was about.

He shrugged and turned to see if Aunt Petunia had gone.  
But she was still there, one arm full of sheets, but in the other hand see held the photograph Harry had stuffed under his pillow.  
She just stood there with her mouth hanging slightly open and her eyes transfixed on the picture.  
Then she looked up into Harry's eyes, and to his surprise they were filled with tears.  
She seemed to be trying to say something but she kept faltering.  
"_Harry…_" was all she could manage in a weak voice.  
He suddenly felt a wave of anger wash over him.  
_It belonged to him, not her!! She didn't even deserve to touch it!_  
He took two long strides over to the bedside cabinet and snatched up his wand.  
"Give it back" he growled pointing it directly at her.  
She flinched and dropped the bed sheets, but stood resolutely gazing at him in shock, still holding the photo.  
"**Give it back!**" he almost screamed.  
She jumped backwards as red sparks shot out of his wand tip, but then held out the picture with a shaking hand for Harry to take.  
He pulled it sharply from her grasp and put it in his pocket.  
"**Get out!**" Harry shouted.  
Aunt Petunia turned and fled from him in terror, tears now streaming down her face.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to **Scythe The Wicked** for being my first reviewer, and for giving me hope that people are actually reading this.

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**Chapter 2**  
Harry stood there for another minute before he lowered his wand.  
He was shocked at his Aunts reaction to the photograph, but he was even more shocked at his sudden anger.  
_Where did that come from?_  
He realised as he thought about it, that he had lost his temper a lot in the past year.  
Harry vowed to make it up to everyone he had ever shouted at when he next saw him or her.  
Especially his best friends, Ron and Hermione, who had stood by him through thick and thin.

A tapping sound came from the window. It was Hedwig, his beautiful snowy owl.  
He opened the window and let her soar into the room and land gracefully on his desk.

He suddenly remembered that he had to send a letter to the Order to let them know he was all right.  
Picking up a spare bit of parchment, a quill and an inkpot, he scribbled down a basic message.

_Dear Ron,  
I'm fine. The Dursley's are being all right, they ignored my Birthday as usual.  
Harry _

Hedwig nipped him sharply on the back of his hand as he put down his quill after he had finished. It was only then that Harry noticed she was carrying a letter.

As soon as he untied it from her leg, Hedwig took flight back out of the window, without waiting for Harry to give his letter to her.

Harry watched her fly into the distance until she wasn't visible anymore.   
He was thoroughly confused now, this didn't make sense.

His mind seemed to recover from the shock, and his thoughts turned back to the letter in his hand.  
Opening it he noticed it was incredibly short.

_Harry,  
Be ready to go._

It wasn't signed, but he recognised Ron's untidy handwriting.  
_What!? _  
Did that mean he was leaving today, or sometime this week?   
Where was he going?

Harry hoped it wasn't Grimmauld Place; he wouldn't be able to handle all of the memories, and emotions in his Godfather's house.  
He now realised why Hedwig hadn't waited around for him to send a letter back.  
The Order didn't want to hear any questions or any of his protesting about the matter.  
Feeling frustrated, he sat down heavily on his bed.

Looking around his messy room again, he understood for the first time what a state he was in.  
"Oh well, better start packing now" he sighed to himself

After an hour of slowly collecting loose items from around his room and stuffing them into his truck, he was almost done; he only had to clean out Hedwig's cage.

Carrying it at arms length and holding his breath against the smell, he walked downstairs to the kitchen sink and started to scrub it clean.  
The TV in the living room was so loud he could only just hear Aunt Petunia's crying upstairs.  
Feeling guilty he decided to see if she was all right and to apologise when he had finished.

There were footsteps in the hall and the front door opened, then closed.  
Harry guessed Dudley got bored and went out with his gang, as usual.  
He thought vaguely that Dudley had hardly spoken to him all summer, this didn't bother Harry at all, in fact it made his life a whole lot easier.

As Harry passed his Aunt's bedroom, on his way back upstairs to put Hedwig's cage away, he put his ear to her door.  
She was still howling away.  
It was a good job Uncle Vernon was still at work for the next three hours, or else Harry would get blamed for this, he just knew he would.

He put Hedwig's cage in his room and returned to her door, he was about to knock when there was the sound of a car pulling into the drive outside the house.  
Harry froze with fear.  
It was Uncle Vernon, he was home from work early.  
Panicking, he ran to his room and slammed the door shut, it felt like the only safe place to go in the house.  
He stood absolutely still listening through his door.

There was a jiggle of keys as the front door opened and closed.  
"Petunia! Dudley! I'm home early!" he called.  
There was no answer, so his footsteps moved into the living room below where the TV was still on.  
"Petunia? Dudley? He called again.

The TV was turned off downstairs.  
Now there was no sound in the house apart from Aunt Petunia's wailing, making it painfully obvious.  
Harry held his breath, waiting.  
"Petunia?" shouted Uncle Vernon from the hall.  
He thundered up the stairs and banged open their bedroom door.  
"Petunia! What's wrong? He asked, then he quickly added in a menacing voice "Was it the Boy?"  
Aunt Petunia was still crying uncontrollably, but between sobs she managed to choke  
_"Harry…"_  
Not letting her finish her sentence, Uncle Vernon let out a sound like an angry bull.  
"BOY!" he roared

Harry backed away from his door knowing what was going to happen next.  
He picked up his wand in case he needed to fight for his life, but vowed to himself not to use it unless he was in serious trouble.  
As the thunderous banging of Uncle Vernon approached his room, Harry tried to prepare himself.

The door was wrenched right off the hinges as his Uncle flung it open.  
Harry had never seen his Uncle look this angry before.  
He was so furious he was having trouble breathing and he seemed to have expanded to twice his normal size.  
His face had reached its deepest colour of purple to date and his veins in his short neck were throbbing.  
His moustache was brisling and his beady eyes were fixed on Harry.  
"THIS IS THE FINAL STRAW!" he bellowed "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU AND YOUR KIND!"  
Harry became very angry at these words.  
_He had had enough!? After what he had put me through for the past 16 years,  
it was him that had had enough!?_

Suddenly Uncle Vernon rushed at Harry, catching him by surprise.  
Harry took a step back and tripped over his trunk, leaving him sprawled on the floor.  
Taking the opportunity of his nephew being temporally defenceless, Uncle Vernon snatched Harry's wand from his grasp and threw it out of the open window.  
He grabbed Harry by his hair and pulled him to his feet.  
Harry gritted his teeth against the pain and struggled to escape his Uncle's grasp, but since he was so weak from not eating, Harry didn't have any hope of getting out of this situation.

Uncle Vernon was now grinning evilly, as though all of this gave him a sick pleasure.  
"No magic to protect you now" he hissed in Harry's ear "You dare to hurt my family!?_ I'll show you what it means to be hurt!_"  
He drew back his fist.  
Harry instinctively closed his eyes and braced himself.  
"_Vernon No!_" Shrieked a voice.

When no punch to the face came, Harry cautiously opened his eyes.  
Uncle Vernon still held on to Harry by his hair, but he was looking at the trembling figure framed in the doorway.  
Aunt Petunia stood there, looking pale and her eyes were red and puffy.  
"I'm not crying because of him" she told her husband and gestured in Harry's direction.  
"_What!?_" spluttered Uncle Vernon.  
" It was because…because I banged my shin in Harry's room" she quickly finished lamely.  
"Oh…" was all Uncle Vernon could say, reluctantly letting go of Harry.  
"Don't make such a racket, the neighbours will hear" his Aunt whispered, making Harry feel everything was back to normal.  
Uncle Vernon left the room without a backward glance at Harry but added sheepishly to Aunt Petunia.  
"I'll fix the door tomorrow, dear"

Harry just stood there staring at his Aunt.  
All of this didn't make sense to him.  
Aunt Petunia lying to her husband, and, stopping Harry getting the beating of his life?  
There was one question he wanted answered,  
"Why?" He asked her.  
She didn't reply and left his room without a word.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm in a good mood today. Mainly because it's my Birthday, so I thought I'd be nice and post the next chapter for anyone out there who is reading this.

My special thanks to old-crow and Iniysa for reading and replying, it means a lot to me what you put. : D

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**Chapter 3**  
Harry needed fresh air to clear his mind, so he stepped out of the front door and made his way to the park.

Just down the road he spotted a newspaper blowing across his path.  
It was the headline on the front page that caught his eye.

**_Unsolved murders baffle police_**

If anything could have made him feel worse, it was this disturbing news.  
Harry was stuck here doing nothing, when he could be out there doing something to help.

He had been ordering the Daily Prophet, the wizarding world's newspaper, every day for the first three weeks of the holidays.  
The news was always the same, about new disappearances and deaths, but they weren't unsolved.

Everyone knew it was Voldermort and his twisted followers, the Deatheaters.  
Harry tried to block these depressing thoughts out of his head as he sat on the swings in the park that were newly replaced after Dudley's gang had managed to destroy them all.

He sat there for what must have been hours, in self-pity, thinking of his awful past, bad memories, and unanswerable questions about his future.

Harry finally came to his senses when he shivered and realised he was cold.  
It was fast becoming dark, and the street lamps were just flickering on, making the shadows recede.  
The sun was setting, turning the sky a sinister blood red.

Harry got stiffly to his feet and slowly started to make his way home, occasionally kicking rocks and being illuminated in an eerie orange glow every time he passed under a street light.

Looking around, there was nobody out this late, must have been around nine o'clock.  
Harry felt completely isolated from both the magic and non-magic worlds.

He automatically turned right, down the narrow alleyway that made a short cut between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk.  
Harry walked slowly, listening to his own muffled footsteps.

His foot found a rock and he kicked it hard.  
It bounced off into darkness and a loud bang followed as it hit a metal garage door.  
He stopped and listened as the sound echoed off the narrow alley's walls.

It was this alley that he had fought off the dementors, saving his cousin's, and his own life last year.

Harry shivered, but not because of the cold.  
He was remembering the tall hooded figures bearing down on him, their rotting flesh, the putrid smell of death, the rattling sound they made as they sucked the happiness out of the air and the way they make you relive your worst memories.  
Their most terrible power is to suck a person's soul out through their mouth, leaving them worse than dead, they would become nothing more than a living empty shell.  
It didn't matter if the person was innocent or not, they crave souls and fear so they would do want ever is necessary to feed on it.

They used to guard the wizarding prison Askaban, but they didn't stay there, because as soon as Voldermort offered them what they wanted, they joined him.  
The only way to fight them is to use a Patronus charm, which not many witches or wizards can do. So it was a very good job Harry had learned to master it three years previously.

It was also three years ago, that he had first seen his Godfather in his Animagus form of a great shaggy black dog.  
His thoughts instantly went back Sirius.

Harry leaned on the nearest fence and slid down it until he was sitting on the ground, tears welling up in his eyes.  
He thought he didn't have anymore tears left after shedding so many since Sirius' death.  
Harry just wiped them away, not wanting his Uncle, Aunt and Dudley to know he had been crying because to them it was a sign of weakness.

The sound of many footsteps and laughter echoed down the alleyway, making him look up.  
It was completely dark now so he could only just make out the figures of four people walking up the alley towards him.  
Harry instantly recognised them.  
It was Dudley's gang.  
The strange thing was that there was no sign of Dudley.

They were drawing closer, and Harry knew if they saw him sitting here, he would be cornered and beaten up, as it was their favourite pastime.  
But if he moved they would see him and he would still get beaten up.  
He weighed his two options, not liking either result.

Making his mind up, he stood and casually walked down the alley towards the main street, praying they wouldn't recognise him.  
"Oi!" someone called from behind.  
Harry quickened his pace.  
"It's Potter! Get him!"  
Harry broke into a sprint.

He was almost at the end of the alley when he was tackled from behind and crashed to the ground.  
Hands shot out of the darkness and grabbed his arms and legs with vice-like grip.  
They were dragging him further into shadows where no one could see what was happening.  
Harry thrashed, but he was held fast.

They dropped him and he landed on the hard dirt.  
Jumping to his feet, he prepared to make another run for it, but they had him surrounded.

Harry reached for his wand in the pocket of his jeans, but was horrified to find it wasn't there.  
He had left it in the bushes outside his bedroom widow from earlier.  
_Even if I had my wand I wouldn't be able to use it. _He thought, remembering that he was still under age and wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school.  
_If I did I would get expelled, which is worse than getting beaten up anyway._ He resolved.

Everyone was smirking at him.  
They maybe enjoying this but Harry sure wasn't.  
"I thought it was my Birthday, not beat up Harry day!" He joked to himself.

A fist swung out of nowhere and caught him in the stomach.  
Completely winded Harry fell to his knees.

"Don't bother trying to escape" spoke a sneering voice.  
Harry recognised it as Piers'.   
"What have you done to Dudley?" he hissed  
"Huh?" asked Harry having finally got his breath back.  
He had no idea what Piers was talking about.

This time he was kicked in the chest and Harry felt a rib crack.  
"Don't play games, why has he stopped coming out and why won't he speak to us properly" spat piers.  
"I don't know!" gasped Harry, he was finding it very hard to breathe as pain kept shooting through his chest.  
He was grabbed roughly from behind and pulled to his feet.  
"Tell us now and it will save you a whole lot of pain" advised the person holding him.  
Harry was becoming annoyed now.  
"I don't know why Dinky Diddums has stopped being friends with you, why don't you ash h-"  
He was punched in the face, but Harry managed to recover quickly.  
"I. Don't. Know" Harry said again angrily through gritted teeth.  
They closed in on him and he braced for the pain.

Ten minutes later, Harry lay in the dirt, drifting in and out of conciseness.  
The gang had just left, because they couldn't get any information out of him and got bored.  
Harry was glad it was over, and didn't want to move as his whole body ached.  
He knew for certain, that he had a concussion, a few broken ribs, two broken fingers, a split lip and a serious nosebleed.  
Harry hadn't yet discovered any more injuries, and he didn't want to,

For now he just lay still, staring up at the pitch-black sky and the sparkle of stars.  
I hate my life…everything bad always happened to me, nothing good. He thought miserably.  
But Harry knew this wasn't true, he was after all a wizard, not everyone could say that.  
He went to the best school in the world, Hogwarts, and he met Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger there, his best friends, so it wasn't all that bad.  
He wondered vaguely what Ron and Hermione were doing at this very moment.  
_They're probably having a better time than me._

Harry laughed at this thought, and instantly regretted it as pain coursed up and down his body.

He became dizzy and it felt as if the floor was swaying beneath him.  
"Whoa…"  
_Got to get home, unless I want to die here because no one will come looking for me._

He gingerly started to get to his feet with a great deal of effort and pain.  
Hey, wait a second, wasn't an Order member supposed to be watching over him?  
_Oh well, I wanted to be alone and I got my wish, just at the wrong time._

Finally standing Harry retrieved his glasses off the floor which were miraculously unbroken and used all of his remaining energy to stagger towards the main street.

Halfway home he briefly saw a cat peering at him from underneath a car before it ran off into the shadows and he vaguely wondered if it was one of Mrs Figg's, one of the batty residents that lived in the neighbourhood.  
Then the idea came to him, why not go to Mrs Figg's, she was part of the Order, and even better, he wouldn't have to go home to be made fun of by Dudley or his Uncle.

Changing direction towards Mrs Figg's house, Harry realised that his vision was darkening, he knew was going to pass out soon because of the pain in his chest, but he had to get to Mrs Figg's, she would help him.

The sound of footsteps behind him made him freeze in fear.  
Was it Dudley's gang back for a bit more fun?  
Or was it worse, was it Deatheaters, here to capture Harry and deliver him to Voldermort.  
Either way he was defenceless.

Harry turned to face…  
"Dudley!?"  
"What the hell happened to you?" Dudley asked with a disgusted look on his face.

Glancing down at his white T-shirt Harry saw that it was now stained red with the blood from his nose.  
Harry guessed that he must look worse than he first thought.  
"Ask your friends" he growled back

Dudley turned white.  
"Was it about me?" he asked in a weak voice.  
"Yes! What is going on!" yelled Harry wiping blood off his face and trying to stem the flow from his nose which didn't seem to want to stop.  
"Err…"  
"Tell me…"Harry ordered, but breaking off to cough violently and to cover his mouth.  
Taking his hand away, he saw it had blood on it.  
_Oh no… _

Harry decided to pick up the pace.  
"Tell me another time" he told Dudley sharply, turning his back on him and carrying on limping down the street towards Mrs Figg's.  
Dudley didn't leave, he was following him.  
"Go home" Harry said angrily.  
"But…where are you going?" he asked sounding puzzled  
"Mrs Figg's" snapped Harry  
"Why?"

Harry realised that he was being a bad-tempered again, but he wasn't in any condition to stand around and chat.  
"OK - help me walk there - and I'll explain" he sighed

Dudley frowned, it was obvious to Harry that he was battling with his thoughts.  
The look on his face said that he didn't want to help Harry, as it would go against his bullying instinct, and the fact that Harry was considered dangerous, because he could do magic.  
But finally his want for knowledge won, and he gestured to Harry to lean on him.

Harry carefully placed an arm around Dudley's shoulders and together they slowly walked to Mrs Figg's street.  
"What I am about to tell you - must not be told to anyone - especially your Mum and Dad." Harry said seriously.  
"OK"  
"Mrs Figg - is a witch - well, sort of"

Dudley's mouth dropped open.  
"I only found out - last summer" Harry quickly added in a wheezy voice, understanding Dudley's shock, and was now finding it very difficult, to string sentences together between breaths "it was after - the Dementor attack - she was there - you might not remember - because you were in shock"

Dudley's face paled even more at the mention of Demetors, but he shook his head to show he didn't remember Mrs Figg being there.  
"Now its - your turn to - explain" Harry almost whispered because it was difficult enough to walk and breath at the same time, never mind speak and his lungs felt like they were filling with liquid fire.  
"I…I guess I owe you an apology first, for what they did to you…" Dudley stammered looking sideways at Harry.  
"One reason I stopped going out was because Mum told me that it wasn't safe anymore"

Harry wasn't surprised with his Aunt's reaction after the incident last year.  
"The real reason is because…because of those …things… that attacked us last year" Dudley finished with a shiver.  
Harry had just been listening till this point, he was feeling very light headed, but felt compelled to reply.  
"Hey - at least you didn't - pass out - the first time you met one" he reassured.

Dudley started to laugh making grunting noises.  
"It's not funny!" Harry said, but he couldn't help smiling, though it hurt a lot because of his split lip.  
"Well - we were lucky last time - there were only two - fighting off more than a hundred - is completely different" he groaned, clutching his chest in agony.  
"Have you done that before!?" Dudley gasped looking horrified.  
"Yeah, about three years ago…" he broke off as this reminded him of Sirius again.

"Anyway - this is sort of a - personal question, but what - worst memory - did you relive?" asked Harry using a lot of effort to complete the sentence between short gasps for air, but he wanted to know.

Seeing Dudley's face he realising it was bad topic.  
"Err…well…most of them had you in actually" Dudley said sheepishly  
Harry looked at him in surprise.  
"It was usually me being horrible to you, like beating you up or making fun of you, I remembered all of the people I've ever hurt, it was horrible"

This was a side of Dudley that Harry had never seen before, and it was a big shock.  
Harry thought of thanking the Dementor that attacked last summer, then smiled at the ridiculous idea.  
"I stopped going out with my friends, because I don't want to be like them anymore" Dudley carried on in a low voice "I wish I had friends like yours, but it's too late, everyone at school knows I'm a jerk"

Harry felt something towards Dudley that he thought he would never feel…pity…or it might have been the pain of broken ribs.  
"It-it's never - too late - to make - friends" Harry choked, which started another coughing fit and resulted in even more blood from his lungs.  
Dudley just nodded, with a miserable expression on his face.

They walked on in silence for a while.  
All this time, Harry was becoming weaker and dizzier, he was also feeling very cold but was sweating, and he knew it had nothing to do with the climate. 

"Almost there…" panted Dudley.  
He looked sideways at Harry and voiced his concern.  
"Are you all right!?"

Harry couldn't answer, he felt as if he could pass out at any second.  
"Harry!" someone shrieked.

Harry looked up groggily to see Mrs Figg rushing towards him in her carpet slippers and her grey hair flying from her hair net.

Relief swept over him and finally the darkness won.  
There was the feeling of falling, voices and then nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Harry awoke with a jolt to the sound of an explosion.  
He sat upright so fast he became dizzy and fell back onto his pillow.

Blood curdling screams sounded straight afterwards, but stopped abruptly.  
Harry accomplished sitting up the second time round.

Looking around the dimly lit room Harry realised he didn't know where he was or how he got there.  
Shouts were coming from downstairs and Harry sighed in relief because he defiantly recognised Mrs Weasly's voice, Harry knew he was safe if she was here.

"What did you think you were doing testing that in the house!? She screamed "you've probably woken Harry with all of that racket! Now tidy this mess up while I go check on him!"

Harry smiled to himself as he thought of how much he had missed Mrs Weasly's frequent telling off.

After a minute or two he briefly remembered being beat up, but everything else was a blur because a headache was making it almost impossible for him to think.  
Looking down at himself there appeared to be no injuries, and apart from his blood stained clothes there was no evidence of him being hurt in anyway.

Finding his glasses on the bedside cabinet and putting them on, Harry looked more closely at his residence. The curtains were drawn, blocking almost all of the light, but he could just still see. The room was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.

Movement on the far wall made him jump in fear.  
A cleaver looking man with a pointed beard, wearing green and silver robes was staring at Harry out of his picture frame mounted on the wall.  
It was Phineas Nigellus, Sirius' great-great grandfather.

"Ohhh…you're awake…finally' He said in a bored voice "Feeling better?"  
The expression on his face showed that he wouldn't have cared less if Harry had never regained consciousness.  
"Umm…yeah, thanks" Harry replied not sure what to say.

Phineas turned and walked out of his portrait without even saying goodbye muttering  
"Job done, perhaps I can get some sleep now"

Harry just sat there in stunned silence for a moment, finally knowing where he was.  
Number twelve, Grimmauld Place, was the last place he wanted to be.

There was a gentle knock, a pause, and then Mrs Weasly's red hair and friendly face appeared as she opened the door.  
"Oh, your up, that's good" she said in a hushed voice as if he was on his deathbed "you'll want something to eat of course"  
Without waiting for a reply she waved her wand and a plate that was piled high with sandwiches appeared on the bedside table next to him.

Mrs Weasly moved over to the windows and pulled back the curtains, letting sunlight stream into the room, hurting Harry's eyes.

She turned with a smile on her face towards Harry, but it vanished the moment she looked directly at him and it was replaced with a look of pain.  
"I-I want you to eat all of those sandwiches before I get back" she stammered looking in every direction apart from his.

Mrs Weasly moved towards the door to go, but turned to look at him one last time as if to confirm something.  
Her eyes filled with tears as she looked into Harry's face.  
"Mrs Weasly, what's wrong!?" asked Harry shocked.

He threw back the covers and made to get out of bed to come towards her, but she hurried over and forced him back under the blankets.  
"No…no…stay in bed Harry dear" she cried tucking him in as tears poured silently down her face.  
"What's wrong…?" he asked again, this time in a more gentle tone.

She sat on the end of his bed and wiped her tears away with the apron she was wearing.  
"It-It's just, why didn't you tell us how bad you were coping!" she sobbed, fresh tears leaking down her face "In your letters, y-you said you were f-fine"

Harry stared at her, still puzzled as to what was going on.  
"I am fine" he replied.  
"No, your-your not!" she moaned.  
"What's wrong with me?" asked Harry, starting to feel slightly unnerved.  
"Your Aunt told us what you did after you got home" Mrs Weasly answered "Y-you locked yourself in your room and wouldn't come out, y-you even stopped eating" she said taking great shuddering gasps.

Harry remained silent; he hadn't thought he was hurting anyone else but himself.  
"I know you cared about Sirius, but please, don't think you are alone, you've still got us…"

At these words she completely broke down into floods of tears, and pulled Harry into a motherly hug.  
Harry's own eyes were filling with tears now because of guilt and the mention of Sirius.

They stayed like that for a whole minute, but eventually broke apart.  
Mrs Weasly seemed better and she gave him a comforting watery smile.

Regaining her composure and wiping the remaining tears away, she walked out of the room and went downstairs leaving Harry alone in silence.

Harry looked down at his T-shirt to see that it was soaking wet from Mrs Weasly's tears. Spotting clean, fresh clothes draped over the back of a chair in the corner Harry got up and changed, hoping nobody wouldn't walk in through the door.  
It took a while because he was still sore all over, but he managed it.

On his way back to his bed, Harry caught sight of himself in the mirror on the wardrobe and gasped in horror.

No wonder Mrs Weasly got upset whenever she looked at him.  
Harry even wondered if he was looking at someone else and not himself, because he hadn't looked in a mirror for a whole month.

Harry looked painfully thin and his clothes were literally hanging off him.  
His face was deathly pale and sunken, like a skull, and his black hair was the messiest it had ever been.  
Harry's usually bright green eyes were dull, as well as bloodshot from lack of sleep and tears.   
But the thing that scared him the most, was the fact his appearance was similar to the first time he came face to face with Voldermort's human form.

Harry stood there for a while, staring at himself in disgust.  
He finally turned away, when there was a knock on his door.

"Harry? It's me and Hermione, can we come in?" Ron called from outside.  
Harry wanted to see his best friends, but he didn't want them to see him.  
"No!" he shouted back.  
"Stop being stupid, it's only us," said Hermione in a disapproving tone "we're coming in anyway, so make sure you're decent!"

Harry looked wildly around the room for a place to hide, but there weren't any good ones, so he jumped back into bed and pulled the sheets over his head, determined that they weren't going to see him, just as the door opened and both of them walked in.

"Hi! -errr, what are you doing mate?" Ron asked.  
"I'm not letting you see me like this" Harry replied in a muffled voice under the covers.

"Oh stop being so childish" Hermione complained "you can't look that bad"  
There was a sudden tug on the sheets pulling them away and Harry was exposed.

Hermione jumped backward away from him with a small scream and hid behind Ron.

Ron on the other hand just stood frozen to the spot in shock with his mouth slightly open, holding the bed sheets in his arms.

"You look terrible!" he gasped.  
"I know! That's why I didn't want you to see me!" Harry said in an exasperated tone.

He was very aware of the fact that they were just staring at him with appalled expressions on their faces, so Harry tried to start a conversation to distract them.

Looking closely at the pair of them, he saw that they both had scorch marks on there clothes, so he questioned them about it.  
"Why are your clothes burnt?"

"Ginny set off one of Fred's and George's tester products, it didn't work properly and blew up half of the kitchen" Ron said quietly.

He didn't say anything else, making it was obvious that he did not want to discuss it further, so Harry changed topic.

"Umm…so…how was your holiday?" he asked Ron.  
"Er, all right, I guess" he mumbled, now looking at a stain on carpet.  
"I bet it was better than mine!" Harry joked, realising his plan wasn't working.  
"How about you?" he asked looking round Ron at Hermione.

She let out a squeak, but didn't say anything and continued to stare wide-eyed at him.

"Oh for goodness sake! It's me, Harry! Your best friend?" he snapped.

"We-we know that" Ron stammered "you just startled us a bit, that's all"  
Next to him Hermione nodded fervently but remained silent.  
"Anyway, this is the first time we've seen you properly" Ron said in self-defence.  
"Huh? What do you mean properly? Harry curiously asked.

Ron sat down on the end of Harry's bed, as if he knew it would take a long time to explain, and Hermione sat on the chair in the corner, both of them now looked slightly more relaxed.

"Well, it all started when Mum, Ginny, Hermione and me were sitting in the kitchen just talking, when all of a sudden there's a load of wind and Lupin appears out of nowhere holding a can - hey, it must have been a portkey" he added as an after thought  
"anyway, he had you on a levitated stretcher and you were in a bad state, you were really white and covered with blood…we - we thought you were dead mate"

Ron seemed to pale at the memory of this and Hermione let out another frightened squeak.

"Mum screamed when she saw you and looked like she was going to faint, but Lupin calmed her down and they took you upstairs.  
We weren't allowed out of the kitchen, never mind allowed to see you.  
Of course, we all questioned Mum about you when she came downstairs, but she ignored us and went straight to the fire where she contacted Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore.  
Pomfrey apparated in the kitchen seconds later, with nothing more than her wand and she went straight up to you."

Ron paused to get his breath back, because he had said it all in a rush,   
Hermione finally spoke up and continued for him.

"We stayed up all night but didn't learn anything till two in the morning, after Madam Pomfrey left.  
Professor Lupin came downstairs and told us you'd been in a muggle fight - is it true?"

Harry nodded and gestured for her to continue.  
Hermione frowned at him, showing her obvious disapproval, but Harry chose to ignore this, so she carried on.

"He also said you had a concussion, a broken nose, severe bruising, and three broken ribs which managed to puncture one of your lungs causing internal bleeding.  
You almost drowned in your own blood, and you'd lost so much, Madam Pomfrey had to make a blood replenishing potion using substitute ingredients from around the house!" Hermione said all of this very quickly, her voice rising till she sounded hysterical and then stopped, apparently in awe of Madam Pomfrey's skills.

"I can add two broken fingers and a split lip to the list" Harry laughed.  
Hermione scowled at him.  
"It's not funny! What did you think you were doing!?" she asked sternly, sounding just like Mrs Weasly "and on your Birthday as well!"  
"Hey! It wasn't my fault! I didn't start it! And four on one isn't very fair!" Harry protested "I also didn't have a choice as to what day it happened on!"

"Harry, why didn't you use your wand?" Ron asked looking thoughtful.  
"I didn't have it on me" Harry said simply.  
"You wouldn't have been able to use it anyway, because of the Reasonable Restriction of underage Sorcery and the International Statue of Secrecy" Hermione recalled.  
"Yeah, that's the other reason, it's not like I can forget, I've been charged with it twice before" said Harry sourly.

"Oh right…where is your wand" Ron questioned looking around the room as if expecting it to appear.  
"Probably still in the bushes outside my house"  
"How did it get there?" asked Hermione at once.  
"My Uncle threw it out of my bedroom window before he tried to beat me to a pulp.  
I got out of that fight, but ended up in another" Harry answered with a bitter smile because of the irony.

"Your Uncle did what!?" Shrieked Hermione, obviously surprised a family member would try such a terrible thing.  
"It doesn't matter" Harry said quickly, not wanting to pursue the topic.

Reaching over to his bedside cabinet, he picked up his plate of sandwiches and offered them one.  
"Thanks mate, I'm starv-OW! What was that for?" Ron whimpered rubbing the back of his hand because Hermione had just smacked it as he was reaching for a sandwich.  
"Harry needs to eat those, he needs to get better" Hermione scolded.  
"You sound just like my Mum!" Ron criticised.

"And it's a good job too, Ronald Weasly" came a voice from behind them.

All three turned simultaneously to look in the direction of the door.  
Mrs Weasly stood there with her arms folded and she was frowning.

"Hi mum" Ron said weakly.  
"You two need to leave Harry alone, he needs to build his strength and to do that he needs to eat and sleep.  
Go on downstairs, lunch is in the kitchen" she said authoritatively.  
Mrs Weasly stepped sideways to let the pair of them out of the door.

They both said goodbye to him and as Ron was leaving Harry heard him grumble to Hermione "see what I mean, you're exactly the same!"

When they had disappeared downstairs, Mrs Weasly gave Harry a stern look and ordered him to eat while she watched closely, which strangely reminded him of Aunt Petunia.

After he had finished and Mrs Weasly finally seemed satisfied, she told him to get some sleep.  
Before she left she drew the curtains again, leaving Harry alone and in the dark.

He lay there a while longer thinking about how close he had come to death yet again, but he soon realised how exhausted he was and willingly drifted off into the first dreamless sleep he had in weeks.


	5. Chapter 5

I haven't had any more replies yet, but I don't mind. I'm happy enough with the fact that my story is up and running on this site!

- jumps up and down with joy -

Oh, and **Merry Christmas** to anyone who celebrated it!!! Hope you had a great time! I know i did!

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Chapter 5  
Harry was confined to his room for the next week, but this didn't bother him.

He actually enjoyed the time alone in the day, and since he was sharing the bedroom with Ron he had company at night. The bonus was that Mrs Weasly didn't bother asking him to help with the cleaning around the house.

Harry spent most of his spare time sleeping, something which hadn't been doing a lot of in the past month.  
When he wasn't doing that, he was reading through his schoolbooks and finishing any homework left over. He even read through the second volume of Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts, which Lupin and Sirius had given him for Christmas last year.

Lupin had visited Harry on the second day of his stay at Grimmauld Place.  
He knocked sharply on the door before he came in, with Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage floating casually behind him.

"Hi Professor" said Harry putting down the book he was reading and sitting up.  
"Harry, there's no reason to call me Professor anymore, I stopped being your teacher two years ago" Lupin smiled sadly down at him, while placing all of the belongings on the floor and putting Harry's lost wand on the bedside cabinet.

Remus Lupin looked just as shabby as always in his patched robes and his light brown hair had more flecks of grey in it than ever before, even though he was still quite young.  
He looked worn and ill, but Harry just supposed that there was a recent full moon.  
Lupin was a werewolf, so he transformed once every month and Harry guessed it was a very painful and exhausting experience.

Summoning the chair in the corner, he sat down at Harry's bedside and gazed intensely at him.

"So…how are you?" he asked quietly.  
"Oh, never been better" Harry smiled sarcastically.  
The corners of Lupin's mouth twitched.  
"You really are like your father"

Harry stared down at his hands in his lap, trying to ignore the awkward pause.  
He looked up briefly to see Lupin's looking around the room, trying to find a topic of conversation.  
Quickly thinking of something, Harry spoke.  
"Thanks for saving my life"

Lupin looked at him in surprise.  
"Oh, don't thank me, thank your cousin, Mrs Figg, her cat Mr Tibbles, and Madam Pomfrey"  
"Yeah, but you put me on the stretcher, made the Portkey, brought me here, and, you helped care for me, which is practically saving my life " Harry finished.  
"Ah, you've been speaking to Ron and Hermione" Lupin smiled knowingly.

He shifted uncomfortably before continuing.  
"Listen- what I really came here to speak to you about is Sirius"

Harry's good mood vanished and he instantly began to feel miserable again.  
"I don't want to talk" Harry said dully looking into his lap.  
"I know you don't, but that's all the more reason to do it"

Lupin leaned forwards so he was almost face to face with him, forcing Harry to look up.  
"I also know this sounds like a cliché, but Sirius wouldn't have wanted you to mope around like this"

When Harry didn't say anything, he took a deep breath to continue, but faltered.  
Lupin inwardly sighed and tried again to get his words out.

"You're not the only one who was effected by his death - I lost my last remaining best friend that day…" Lupin seemed calm on the outside, but his sad brown eyes gave him away.

Both of them sat staring at each other, silently sharing sorrow.  
Harry vision became blurry with tears, but he willed himself not to cry.

Breaking eye contact, Lupin coughed unnecessarily and his voice changed into a fake cheerful tone.

"I've got to go now, lots of stuff to do for the Order, but I will be back to see you soon!" He said jumping to his feet.

"Perhaps I'll even ask Dumbledore if you can go to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies" he gave Harry a wink and then turning to leave.

"Oh – and don't forget to eat and sleep, you look like you could really use it!" he said with a wry smile "and you're not likely to attract any nice girls at school if you go back looking like that!"

He flashed a final grin and walked out of the room.  
"Wait!" called Harry.

Lupin poked his head back round the corner.  
"Thanks- for everything" was all Harry could manage to say.  
Lupin nodded in acknowledgement and then disappeared closing the door silently behind him.

"I can't believe how much cleaning we still have to do!" Ron ranted while pacing backwards and forwards across the floor.

They were all in the bedroom talking about random subjects, just like they had done for the past seven days.

Ron was stomping around the room, complaining about how much that his arms hurt from scrubbing so much in the past three hours, while Harry and Hermione were just watched him in mild amusement.

Harry was feeling much more cheerful by now and Mrs Weasly kept commenting on how much he had improved over the past few days, which Harry took as a good sign that everything was back to normal.

They all jumped as the door burst open and Mrs Weasly rushed in.  
She was pink in the face and was breathing hard because she had probably just run all the way up two flights of stairs.

Hermione squealed with delight when she saw what Mrs Weasly was holding.  
In her hand there were three official letters with the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts crests on them.

Exam results…

Harry's stomach did a flip and his brain went numb, how could he have forgotten something so important?

Mrs Weasly, who was still gasping for air, held out her hand expecting them to take the letters.  
But nobody moved, they just continued to stare ominously.

"Well?" asked Mrs Weasly in disbelief after she had finally recovered.

Ron made the first move; he stepped forwards stiffly and took the letters from her grasp, then he folded his arms and gave a stern look at his mother.  
"Mum, can you leave please" he said.

It wasn't a request - it was a command.

"What!?" she spluttered "I need to see what you got!"  
"I'll tell you my results after I've seen them first" he said seriously "I just need some privacy"

Mrs Weasly seemed reluctant to leave so Ron walked over and gently nudged his mother in the back, successfully steering her out of the room.  
He then closed the door and turned the lock.

Harry and Hermione stared at him in surprise.  
As Ron turned he saw both of their expressions.  
"What?" he asked defensively.  
"And you say that I act the same way as your mother!" Hermione said in mock outrage as she smiled triumphantly "you're just as bad!"

Ron shrugged off the comment.  
"Mum tried exactly the same thing with Fred and George a few years ago - but they made the mistake of letting her stay. So when she saw that they only had three OWLs each, she went ballistic and started screaming her head off at them.  
I just want some time to prepare myself before the shouting starts" Ron said simply.  
"You don't think you've done that bad, do you?" asked Hermione fearfully.  
"I dunno…" he replied with a slight frown as he handed them their letters "only one way to find out…"

Harry just stared down at his envelope, hoping that it would open by itself.  
Looking up he saw Ron and Hermione doing the same.

"I don't know what I'm worried about…" said Ron smiling " I've just got to stick to my motto - 'being worried about something won't change the result'"

Hermione looked up at him sharply.  
"So that's why you're never worried about getting your homework in on time!" she said furiously "that's a stupid motto!"  
"No it's not!" he said angrily "It works fine - and you should try listening to it! Perhaps you wouldn't be so stressed all of the time!

Hermione looked as though she was about to retort but Harry cut in before the next World War could start.  
"How about we all open them at the same time?" he suggested "after the count of three?"

Ron and Hermione seemed to forget about their argument as they looked down at their letters.  
Both of them nodded weakly.

"one – Two – THREE!" Harry shouted.

Tearing the envelope open he pulled out four sheets of paper.  
The first one seemed to be from the Ministry of Magic explaining how the marking scheme worked.

O – Outstanding  
E – Exceeds Expectations  
A – Acceptable  
P – Poor  
D – Dreadful

But Harry was not interested in reading it.

The next one was from Hogwarts congratulating him on finishing his OWLs, it then went on to explain about next years NEWT exams.

Another sheet turned out to be a form that Harry had to fill out to apply for certain NEWT's this year, and it had to be sent back to Hogwarts.

The smallest piece of paper was a list of all the supplies that would be needed for all of the lessons this term.

Putting them aside he found the sheet he was looking for – the one with his results on.

Harry's heart rate increased, he could feel it pounding in his chest.  
He noticed vaguely that the results were set in same the order that the exams were taken.  
Ignoring the separate marks for the theory paper and the practical, he looked for the overall grades.

Starting at the top of the list he repeated the results to himself.

Charms - E  
Transfigeration - E  
Herbology - E  
Defence Against the Dark Arts - O

He grinned as he read the mark for Defence Against the Dark Arts, remembering how he guessed after the exams a few months ago that he had achieved an Outstanding.

His heart felt as if it was about to explode with joy, but then he looked at the exam result underneath.

Potions - E

Harry's heart skipped a beat and then started to ache with the disappointment.  
He really needed that grade to become an Auror, the only career he had ever considered…

Determined not to let this discourage him, he carried on reading down the list.

Care of Magical Creatures - O

Harry thought of what Hagrid's reaction would be when he found out.  
He would most likely cry with happiness, because the grade would be sufficient proof to show that he was one of the best teachers anyone could ask for.  
The image of Hagrid crying appeared suddenly in Harry's head, almost making him laugh out loud, because seeing a supposedly brutal half-giant breaking down in tears of joy was a very unheard of event.  
Hagrid was actually one of the most gentlest people he knew, and you could go as far as to say he was harmless if you overlooked his fascination with dangerous creatures.

Astronomy - A  
Divination - P  
History of Magic - A

He had expected those grades- mainly the Astronomy and History of Magic, but he was surprised to find he hadn't been graded lower for Divination, as that exam was a complete fiasco.

Harry also remembered how he was distracted from completing his practical Astronomy exam as he had witnessed Hagrid and Professor McGonagall being attacked by Umbridge and five unknown people outside on the castle grounds for no apparent reason.

And it was in his History of Magic exam he had fallen asleep and had seen the planted vision, which lured him to the Department of Mysteries on a rescue mission, but Harry had only achieved in risking his friends lives and ending Sirius'.

"Oh no!" said Hermione angrily jumping to her feet "I only got an Exceeds Expectation in Astronomy! I was one mark off of an Outstanding! I can't believe it!"

Her face was screwed up in fury and she looked like she was about to explode.  
Harry sensed danger so he quickly tried to console her.

"Hermione, it's all right. I only got an Acceptable, so you did better than me" He said soothingly "Anyway, Astronomy isn't important-"  
"Not Important!" Hermione almost screamed at him "Of course its important!"  
"Hermione! Calm down!" shouted Harry.

Giving Harry a scathing look, Hermione sat back down on her chair, huffing in anger.

Harry looked over at Ron who had sunk down onto his bed, and was staring at his results in disbelief.  
"Hey Ron, what did you get?" Harry asked.

Ron looked up in surprise, it was as if he had forgotten that there were other people in the room and he apparently didn't even hear Hermione's tantrum.

"Um…er…" he replied with a blank shell-shocked expression "I-I got three O's"  
"Cool! What subjects?" Harry asked at once.  
"Er…Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures and…and History of Magic?" he said in a questioning voice, almost as if he didn't believe his last result.  
"Well that's brilliant! I only got two O's! said Harry cheerfully.

This seemed to make Ron snap out of his dazed state, because it was dawning on him that he had beaten Harry at something.

He clambered onto his bed and started bouncing up and down in celebration, causing the bedsprings squeak. He was so tall now that he was almost hitting the ceiling.

"You've got Hermione to thank for your Outstanding in History of Magic, Ron" Harry reminded him "it was because of the notes she wrote down for you over the past few years"

Ron suddenly stopped bouncing and spun around to face Hermione with a big grin on his face.  
"Thanks Hermione! I couldn't have done it without you!"

Ron jumped down from his bed and strode over to Hermione, who was still scowling and not listening to what was being said, and pulled her into a hug.  
Hermione plainly looked shocked, and just continued to stare in confusion at Ron after he had pulled away.

Ron suddenly realised what he had just done and his ears turned red.

"You two make a great couple!" Harry joked while laughing uncontrollably at the situation.

Hermione looked at Harry with a calculating expression and then turned bright red with tears forming in her eyes.

She stood up and quickly left the room without saying a word.

Harry stopped laughing abruptly because he was completely baffled by her strange behaviour.  
"What was that about?" he asked Ron.  
"Huh? - oh…dunno…" Ron wasn't paying attention to Harry's question but replied anyway, slowly shaking his head.  
He was frowning slightly as though deep in thought and his ears were showing no signs of returning to their natural colour.

"Hey look- wow- she must be really upset about something big because she left her exam results behind…" said Harry as he got out of bed to retrieve the papers on the floor.

Harry let out a low whistle as he read her grades.  
"She got nine O's and one E!" he said in awe.

He had expected a comment from Ron, but he was acting strangely quite, so Harry turned around to ask what was wrong, only to find he had gone.

"What is going on!?" Harry said angrily to himself.

He gave up trying to answer his own questions and returned to bed where he lay awake for hours trying to remember Hermione's face before she left, and wondering if he imagined the look of hurt she had given him.

Harry tried to remain conscious long enough to interrogate Ron when he would eventually come to bed, but failed and fell asleep with both his and Hermione's letters still in his hand.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry this is a bit late, i haven't got an excuse.

-shrugs-

So on with the story!

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**Chapter 6**

Harry awoke early the next morning to find that Ron wasn't in his bed and it looked as if he had not slept there last night.

Harry wanted to question Ron and Hermione about the confusing events that had happened yesterday, but he knew how protective Mrs Weasly could get and was guessing that she wouldn't let him leave his room until the first day of school started, which was a whole week away.

Just as he thought of this, there was a knock on the door and Mrs Weasly entered.

"Rise and shine- oh, your awake…I just came in to get you up, but I guess I don't need to" she said as she pulled open the curtains.  
"You've got to get ready to go out today, we are all going to Diagon Alley to get school supplies"

"Really!?" asked Harry as he jumped out of bed, barely able to contain his excitement.  
"Yes" she replied stiffly "Professor Dumbledore suggested that you have a change of scenery"

Mrs Weasly moved around the room tidying unnecessarily and muttering to herself in an undertone "…ignoring my better judgement…not well enough yet…"

She sounded aggravated, so Harry didn't dare ask any of the questions that he wanted answered, just in case she decided to take her anger out on him.

"This is the only day that most of the Order are able to provide a sufficient guard, so we cannot afford to miss the opportunity" Mrs Weasly said briskly "so make sure you're down in the kitchen by 10 o'clock so we can leave on time"

She walked out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her.

Harry had so many questions he wanted answered, for instance, how were they all going to get there? Were they travelling by the Knight Bus just like last year or perhaps Portkey?

He opened his trunk and pulled out a random pair of jeans and a red T-shirt and started to change out of his pyjamas.

Harry also wanted to know who was guarding him, as it would make him feel safer and happier in the company of people he could trust.

He had successfully managed to get one leg in his jeans when the door swung open without warning.

Harry yelped in surprise, and tried to pull his trousers on as fast as he could to save some of his dignity, but he failed miserably because he lost his balance and ended up in heap on the floor.

"It's only me" Mrs Weasly sighed, as she purposely adverted her eyes "I just came back to tell you that if you want breakfast it will be ready in ten minutes"

Turning to leave again, she added in a motherly tone "Oh, and Harry dear, change your trousers, that pair your wearing at the moment makes you look scruffy"

Mrs Weasly closed the door behind her for the second time, leaving a very red faced Harry to recover from his embarrassment.Ten minutes later, he was wearing a different pair of jeans and was sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying his scrambled eggs on toast, and talking cheerfully to Ginny about school.

Hermione appeared a minute later and said good morning to Mrs Weasly and Ginny, but ignored Harry completely and sat at the opposite end of the table, silently eating her breakfast and occasionally stealing glances at him when she thought he wasn't looking.

Mrs Weasly ended up leaving to search for Ron because his breakfast was cold and she became impatient.  
Harry could faintly hear her shouting his name as she scoured the house for him amid Mrs Black's screams from her portrait in the hall.

Five minutes later, Ron came into the kitchen closely followed by his mother who seemed extremely angry.

"What were you doing up there!?" she shouted at him.  
"I was feeding Buckbeak" Ron replied quietly.

Buckbeak was the male Hippogriff that had lived in the attic for the past two years.  
Hagrid and then Sirius had previously owned him, but now that Sirius was gone he didn't belong to anyone.

Ron sat down in the seat furthest from Harry and Hermione, not looking at either of them.  
After propping his elbows on the table, he stared miserably into the crackling fire that Mrs Weasly had just lit.

He looked exhausted because of the dark circles under his eyes and seemed slightly depressed, Harry noticed Ron's glazed expression and thought it looked like he was sleeping with his eyes open.

When Mrs Weasly placed his breakfast in front of him, Ron glanced down at it but then returned his gaze towards the fire.

"Ron, you need to eat something" his mother nagged.  
"I'm not hungry" he replied in a low voice.

Everyone looked at him in surprise and Ginny dropped her fork, which clattered to the floor, but nobody seemed to notice.  
"The world must be coming to an end…" Ginny said in disbelief with her mouth hanging open.

"Ron…are you all right?" Mrs Weasly asked faintly.  
She rushed over to him and placed a hand to his forehead so she could check if he was feverish. "Hmm…you feel normal… but you do look a bit peaky, perhaps you should stay at home today"

This instantly snapped Ron out of his stupor and he forced a smile onto his face.  
"I'm fine Mum, honestly!" he said looking up at her "Please let me go"

"OK, but your going to bed early tonight, you look ever so tired- couldn't you sleep last night?"  
"You could say that…" Ron said, barley above whisper.

As soon as the conversation was over, everyone sat in silence, there was tension in the air, but Harry had no idea why.

After a minute of this he couldn't take it anymore, so he used the excuse that he had left his school supplies list upstairs and had to go get it before they left, and made a break for the door.

As Harry left the kitchen to collect this years book list, Ginny followed and questioned him in his bedroom.

"What is going on between you three?" she asked looking concerned "I've never seen any of you act like this towards each other before!"  
"I really don't know!" Harry answered truthfully "I have a feeling it's got something to do with me, but I have no clue what it is!"

"All right, fine, I'll try talking to Hermione and you try Ron, it's the only way we're going to get answers" Ginny said sounding stressed, and she started massaging her temples as though she had a headache.  
"We'll try after we get back, and perhaps they will be in a more cheerful mood" Harry suggested.  
"OK, but we had better get downstairs quickly so we can leave on time" Ginny said as she looked down at her watch.

Harry picked up his list and together they went downstairs.

To his dismay Harry found out that the feeling of tension in the kitchen had not yet dispersed, but Mrs Weasly was trying her best to lighten the atmosphere by making bright and cheerful conversation.

"Right! - so we are all here – got all of the things you need?"  
Everyone nodded.  
"OK then, we're ready to go!" she said clapping her together to motivate them.

"Er- Mrs Weasly, how are we all going to get there?" Harry asked curiously.  
"We're all going to floo directly to Fred and George's shop" she replied absentmindedly as she searched for the pot that contained the floo powder.

Harry's stomach churned at the thought of the first time he had travelled by fireplace.  
It was a nasty experience, and Harry had decided from that point on that it was not a mode of transport he would willingly choose ever again, unless it was an emergency.  
He had also found out last year that it was a very unreliable source of communication, and he paid the price for learning it too late.

Mrs Weasly seemed to have noticed the look of anxiety in his face and gave him an encouraging smile.  
"Oh don't worry dear, you get used to it after awhile, it does feel strange at first – I should know because I was ill after the first few times I attempted to travel by floo powder"

When Harry didn't relax a look of understanding crossed her face, which quickly turned into sympathy.

"There won't be a repeat of last time as long as you clearly say the destination" she said "I'm not sure if it was lucky or not that you ended up in Knockturn alley, I mean, I know it's right next to Diagon alley, and you could have ended up anywhere in the world, but I still wish you hadn't witnessed that foul place…"

Mrs Weasly shuddered as she said this, and it was clear that she was thinking of Knockturn alley.

Harry couldn't blame her either because it was a place that contained everything against her morals.  
As far as Harry could remember from past experience, it was where Dark Witches, Wizards and an assortment of creatures liked to reside, as well as all of the shops being dedicated to the Dark Arts.  
Harry did not want to return there because he could distinctly recall the feeling of evil that seemed to emanate from the surrounding area.

"But Mrs Weasly- " Hermione spoke up "I thought that the Ministry was watching the fires and tracking us, meaning that it was unsafe for the Order to use?"

"Oh, they haven't got the time or man power anymore because the Ministry is in chaos at the moment because of You-know-who" Mrs Weasly said sadly  
"They've got Arthur working overtime, he hasn't been able to have one nights peaceful sleep at home for over a week!  
Being thoughtful, he made the decision that he didn't want to wake us all in the middle of the night when he was returning, or leaving for work, so he's staying at the Leaky Cauldron pub in Diagon alley until things calm down a bit, but it may take awhile…"

"Well that explains a lot" said Ginny who was stroking Crookshanks, Hermione's pet cat, which was circling her legs and purring softly.  
"It's not important, so lets not talk about it anymore" said Mrs Weasly to stop anymore questions "Right then, where was I…oh yes, so who wants to go first?"

Harry took an involuntary step backward, but this turned out to be a mistake because his sudden movement attracted Mrs Weasly's attention and she decided to target him.

"Go on Harry, take some floo powder, throw it in the fire and say number ninety-three, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, Diagon alley" she said holding the pot out to him "you can go first, Fred and George will be waiting at the other end so it's perfectly safe"

Harry reluctantly took a handful of floo powder, walked over to the fireplace, and he threw it into fire where the small orange flames instantly transformed into towering emerald green ones.

Harry turned and looked round at everyone one last time before he left.  
Ron was looking determinedly in the opposite direction, Hermione was staring directly at him with mixed emotions on her face, one was concern, but Harry was unfamiliar with the other.  
Ginny glanced up from stroking Crookshanks and waved him goodbye, and Mrs Weasly ushered him into the fireplace, where the flames were not hot as expected, but pleasantly cool and it tickled as the flames licked around him.

"Bye" he said miserably and braced himself for the unpleasantness "number ninety-three, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, Diagon alley!"

The kitchen disappeared in a whirl of green flame and he was hurtling at a very uncomfortable high speed past glimpses of many other open fireplaces amid the flames.

He picked up even more rate and started to spin around and around, making him feel nauseous, and cold wind was making his eyes water.  
Harry closed them tight, but the blinding green light was flickering through his eyelids, which reminded him horribly of the Avada Kadavra killing curse.

Just as he dared to open his eyes to check where he was, Harry received a face full of soot which blinded him, and because of the stinging, he sucked in his breath inhaling many ashes and causing him to cough uncontrollably.

Harry was still choking and furiously rubbing his eyes when he felt a change in the direction of the wind, so he cautiously squinted through his soot covered glasses and blearily saw a hand dart out of a fireplace and reach towards him.

Harry gasped in surprise and accidentally inhaled even more soot and then received some in the face, so he couldn't see or hear anything in the roar of the fire.

Harry felt the hand grab him roughly by the collar and pull, jerking him to an abrupt stop and cutting of his air supply.

A final heave pulled him out of the fire and Harry lost his balance and stumbled.  
He tried to gain support from the unknown persons arm, but it was pulled away quickly and he fell onto the cold stone floor.

Choking and panting heavily, Harry looked up through stinging eyes at the person who had pulled him free of the fire and gasped in horror.


	7. Chapter 7

Special thanks to Iniysa, aka, Lauren for being a constant reader and for replying again. Its nice to know you're following my fic.

I left you all with a little cliffy last chapter, so i won't hold back any longer.  
You'll easily guess after the first sentence anyway.

Just remember that Harry is in shock, so he'll be acting a bit slow, bless him.

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**Chapter 7**

The person looked normal, apart from the fact that he didn't have a head!

A second identical headless body appeared next to the other one and held out a helping hand for Harry to take, but Harry had no intention of accepting it, he just continued to stare at the pair of them with his mouth hanging open.

They started laughing at him - Harry didn't know how, they had no mouths.

"You should see your face!" one of them howled with laughter as he pointed down at Harry.  
"Wish we had a camera…oh wait we do!" said the other revealing an old fashioned camera and taking a picture causing a blinding flash and spots to dance in front of Harry's vision.

Recognising the voices, Harry put one and one together and ended up with two twins.

"Hang on…Fred! George!" Harry shouted as they each whipped off their Headless Hats and reappeared fully, showing two red headed and freckled faces each with an identical grin.

"That was one of the best pranks we have ever pulled, don't you think?" said Fred wiping tears from his eyes.

"No it was not!" Harry said angrily while getting to his feet and trying to dust himself off "You almost gave me a heart attack!"  
"Well, it was funny to us, and that's all that matters" said George still grinning in amusement.

Harry jumped in surprise as there was a burst of green flame and Ginny came flying out of the fireplace.

She tripped over the grate which sent her sprawling into Fred and George, who didn't manage to move in time, so they got flattened by her and the three of them all crashed to the floor.

It was Harry's turn to laugh as he watched the twins wriggle out from underneath Ginny, both very red in the face.  
"Now that was funny!" Harry gasped as he clutched a stitch in his side.  
Even Ginny was giggling madly, but Harry could see she was embarrassed because her face had flushed the same colour as her red hair.

"Har Har- " said Fred sarcastically.  
"Very funny" Said George as he threw a scowl in his little sisters direction.

Another burst of flame erupted from the fireplace and Hermione came whizzing out looking very pale and slightly sick.  
"I really don't like travelling by floo powder!" she said shrilly.

Harry realised that this was the first time Hermione had ever travelled by floo powder, and Harry could tell by the look on her face that she never wanted to travel the same way ever again.

Hermione looked very faint so Harry rushed over to her and gave her some support.  
She looked up at him in surprise, but then turned away blushing.

Ron appeared suddenly, covered in soot and looking wind swept.  
He flashed a grin at Fred and George, but then turned and saw Hermione in Harry's arms, causing the grin to vanish. He froze with a hurt expression etched onto his face at the pair of them together, but then spun on his heels and stormed out of the room looking furious.

"What was that all about?" asked Fred perplexed.  
"I don't know" said Harry shortly as he chanced a glance at Ginny who nodded in confirmation that they needed to put their plan into action soon.

Harry and Hermione broke apart hastily as Mrs Weasly arrived in the fireplace.  
"All made it safely?" she asked as she adjusted her handbag and did a head count "where's Ronald?"  
"Downstairs in the shop" replied George "he's acting strange though…"  
"I think he's ill" Mrs Weasly sighed "but he persisted that he wanted to come today…"

"Come on Harry" Fred said as he grabbed Harry's sleeve and pulled him towards the door.  
"You have 30 minutes, then I want you all back up here!" Mrs Weasly shouted after them.  
"OK!" Harry called back to reassure her that he heard.

"You haven't seen the shop yet!" Fred said as they walked down the stairs.  
"It's brilliant if I do say so myself" bragged George, following close behind.  
"And it's all thanks to you" Fred smiled at him, referring to the money Harry had given them a year ago.

"TA DA!" Shouted Fred as he opened the door and the shop was revealed.

Harry stared in amazement at the noisy and colourful room, which was jammed full of customers waiting to buy something, or just wandering around in awe at all of the jokes available on the shelves.

"GOOD ISN'T IT!" George bellowed to Harry over the deafening noise of laughter and chatter.

Fred and George left him to look around while they went to front desk to take orders and money off the demanding crowd so Harry shifted slowly through the swell of witches and wizards, scouring the area for any sign of Ron's flaming red hair.  
But he was nowhere to be seen, so he gave up and started to examine the brightly coloured and odd shaped items on the shelves.

Harry instantly recognised the Headless Hats that had been used by Fred and George just minutes ago, the sign read Headless Hats, they make your whole head invisible, it enough to give anyone a fright! Only 3 Galleons each!

A boy of around eleven, with blonde hair, pale blue eyes and freckles was standing next to Harry, and he was peering at the sign with interest.  
"Do they work?" the boy pondered to himself, not really expecting an answer.  
"Oh, they defiantly do, I can give my approval" Harry spoke down to him.

The boy jumped and let out a squeak of surprise, but he thanked Harry for the advice, and walked over to George at the counter to pay for the bright green feathery hat clutched in his hand.

"Harry- HARRY!" a voice shouted over the noise of the crowd.  
Looking around he could see Ginny shifting through the crowd towards him looking worried

"What's wrong" he asked.  
"I can't find Hermione, she's disappeared" Ginny said biting her lip anxiously "Have you found Ron yet?"  
"No, but they have to be round here somewhere, lets keep looking"

Harry continued to walk around the shop with Ginny for another fifteen minutes occasionally spotting inventions he already knew of, like the famous Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs, Portable Swamps, Canary Creams, and Skiving Snackboxes that contained Nosebleed Nougat, Fainting Fancies and Puking Pastilles.

One thing that he had never seen before caught his eye.

It was a tiny cylinder shaped bottle that kept changing from blue to pink in a constant cycle. On closer inspection he could see that the picture on the front was also alternating at the same time as the colours.  
Harry remembered seeing the two different pictures on the doors of public toilets, one was female and the other was male.

As Ginny peered over his shoulder to see what he was looking at, a mischievous grin spread across her face, and then she gave him a sales description of the product.

"Sex Switch, three drops is enough to turn a male into a female or vice versa for an entire day!" she said "there is no remedy, so the person it is used on has to wait an entire twelve hours before it wears off!"

"Now that would be funny" Harry said imagining the countless possibilities.  
"It's a very clever illusion potion, I helped Fred and George make it" she said proudly.  
"You were their test subject, weren't you" Harry said, raising an eyebrow at her.  
"Well, yes – but I did help brew the potion as well!"  
"In that case Snape would be surprised to learn that three of his potion students actually paid attention in class, but I think he would dislike the fact that your using your knowledge to create joke shop merchandise" Harry laughed "anyway, I might buy some, it looks good"

"It's not going to be cheap" Ginny said shaking her head "it took a lot of time and effort to make and the ingredients were hard to get, so it's going to cost you 8 galleons and that's with a discount"  
"It doesn't matter, I'll pay the full price since it's all going to a good cause" Harry said giving Ginny a smile "and it'll be worth it when I get to use it on Malfoy!"

They both had trouble finding a safe route through the maze of buzzing customers, but together they found Fred and George at the counter.

"So, seen something you like?" George asked as Harry handed over the small bottle to him.  
"Hmm, good choice, may I ask whom you are going to use it on?" Fred questioned politely with a smirk.  
"Is ickle Ronnie going to become ickle Roxanne?" George mocked "or is Hermione turning into a Herman?"  
"Nope, I'm going to get my revenge on Draco Malfoy this year…" Harry replied with and evil grin as he placed a handful of galleons on the counter.  
"Well then, if it's going to be used on the scum of the Earth, you can have a discount" Fred said happily.  
"He won't accept one" Ginny spoke up.  
"In that case, I feel obliged to give you a complimentary gift" George said rummaging through his pockets and pulling an assortment of odd objects out.

A few select items that Harry remembered clearly, included a small and slightly squashed blue mushroom, a broken paperclip, a large rubberband, a vial containing a shimmering white liquid, a pocket torch and a ruffled eagle quill.

Finally, he withdrew a single flesh coloured string, which Harry recognised as an extendible ear and placed it in front of him.

"We don't need to use these babies anymore to spy on the Order's meetings, cause now we're in them!" said George "But, since we've been made to swear not to tell you anything, I'm thinking that you've got an unfair disadvantage, so take this to even the score a bit"  
"Think of it as a small part of you're late Birthday present" Fred nodded shoving the extendible ear and bottle of sex switch into Harry's hands.  
"Small part?" Harry asked suspiciously.  
"You'll find out what we have in store for you a little later, but until it's ready, you can have that"  
"Er, thanks" Harry said uncertainly, noticing the growing queue of impatient customers behind him.

"We've got to get back upstairs Harry" Ginny said gesturing to her watch "The rest of the guard will be arriving soon"

As the pair of them were making their way back upstairs, Harry thought he heard another pair of footsteps behind him, so he instinctively turned round to see who it was, but there was no one in sight.

Ginny who was in front of Harry, stopped and turned to see why he had come to an abrupt halt.  
"Harry, wha-"  
"Shhh!" he said, instantly silencing her.

Harry strained his hearing for any other sound, because he was positive someone else was on the stairs with them.

"Hello?" Harry called "Is anyone there?"  
"It's only me" said a whisper close to where Harry was standing frozen to the spot.  
"W-who?" Harry asked nervously.

Ginny jumped in fright as Lupin suddenly materialised out of thin air, pulling off an invisibility cloak and revealed himself, just a few steps below Harry.  
"You've got good hearing" he said smiling.

"Have you been following me?" Harry asked weakly, as his heartbeat slowly returned to its normal rate.  
"I've been following you since you got here, and it let me tell you it was very difficult in such a crowded shop"

"You scared me half to death" Ginny said faintly.  
"Sorry about that" he said looking up the stairs at her.

He then turned to Harry smiling "Since you discovered me, I'm warning you now to hide that bottle of Sex Switch and the extendible ear from Molly, or she will confiscate it for sure"  
"Oh, yeah, you're right" Harry said as he pocketed both of the products.

"My conscious isn't bothering me about letting you keep that, especially if you are going to use it on Draco Malfoy. In fact I'm urging you to use it on him, and try to get a picture of, _her_, for me, will you?"

"Sure!" Harry said giving him a dazed smile, he felt slightly shocked that he had the full support of an adult, but it also made him feel extremely happy.

Lupin was acting just like…like Sirius…used to…it was almost as if...as if he was still alive…

Harry stopped smiling after this thought.

Lupin seemed to noticed and said quickly "Well, we had better get moving, the rest of the guard are probably waiting upstairs, I'll be following you all day under the invisibility cloak"

He looked around warily, to see if anyone else was listening and then continued "I was not supposed to reveal myself to any of you, so pretend that you don't know that I'm here, and please, have the common sense not to mention any of this conversation to Molly"  
"We're not that stupid" Ginny said rolling her eyes as he disappeared under the cloak.

The door at the top of the stairs opened, and Mrs Weasly appeared, looking angry.  
"Hurry up your late! Everyone is waiting for the both of you!" she snapped.

Upon entrance, Harry saw Ron and Hermione standing on opposite sides of the room from each other, and he counted five Order of the Phoenix members, not including Lupin.

First there was Mrs Weasly, who was looking sternly at him - then Tonks, she was an Auror, and a metamorphmagus so she could change her appearance at will. Last time Harry saw her she had spiky bubblegum pick hair, but now she had long dark red hair that was tied neatly in a plait.

Mad-eye Moody was standing next to the exit. His normal beady eye looking directly at Harry through his fly away and grizzly grey hair, while his false electric blue coloured eye, which could see through solid objects, was staring through the back of his head and looking down the stairs to check for danger. He was also an Auror, and he had the scars on his face to prove it.

Harry watched as he shifted his position and moved over to a comfy armchair, his carved claw shaped wooden leg, making a loud clunk with each step.

Next there was Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was standing by Mrs Weasly, making her seem very small in comparison because of his extreme height. He was another Auror who had high clearance at the Ministry and had until recently been in charge of the manhunt for Sirius, he had been giving false information on his whereabouts.  
Harry wondered who he was chasing after at present - now that the Sirius' case was closed.

Kingsley bowed his head slightly in Harry's direction as if to say hello, his gold earring and dark baldhead glistening in the firelight, so Harry nodded in acknowledgement.

"All ready to go?" Moody growled "Tonks?"  
Harry turned and looked in Tonks' direction wondering why Moody why was addressing her.

He was shocked to find a small girl of around eleven, with brown pigtails and crystal blue eyes, where Tonks was previously standing.  
"Yep" the girl replied to Moody in a false cute, high-pitched voice.

"Right everyone, Tonks is now the Weasly's second cousin, remember that if anybody asks, her name is Michelle"

Tonks - or Michelle giggled as the group moved towards the exit and Harry distinctly heard her comment.  
"No one ever suspects the innocent little girl…"

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Hahaha, i'm guessin i tricked you all into thinking that a bad guy had caught Harry. –chants- You were wrong, you were wrong, you were wrong...ha ha ha...

Now, i'm just going to warn you that Tonks character change won't be relevant until many more chapters in the future, so you'll have to be patient for now and accept it.


	8. Chapter 8

You know what time it is my faithful readers.  
Time for me to post the next chapter!!

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Chapter 8

Harry enjoyed walking around the brightly-lit shops of Diagon Alley with his friends because for the first time in months, he felt that he belonged in the world, which meant that was extremely relaxed.

Sadly everyone else around him seemed to feel the exact opposite.  
Shoppers passing by were withdrawn and seemed very tense. It was as if they expected Voldermort to jump out of the shadows and start attacking at any moment.

The Order members remained silent as they walked through the streets, all of their eyes darting warily in all directions, and Moody's magical eye was spinning so fast it made Harry feel dizzy just looking at it.  
Tonks was the only one in the Order without her wand out. She was walking closely next to Harry as a back up defence in case of a surprise attack, and even she was unusually quiet.

Ron had not uttered a word since this morning at breakfast and it looked like he was going to keep his stony silence for the rest of the day. He had even managed to avoid eye contact with Harry so far by keeping his head down while walking from shop to shop, letting Mrs Weasly buy all of the things he needed.

Hermione on the other hand was constantly at Harry's side trying to talk to him and apparently she was not going to stop following him, however hard Harry tried to shake her off.  
Harry realised that she was actually irritating him just as she started a new conversation about NEWT's.  
"Erm…Hermione, I don't really want to talk about my NEWT exams, there not till next year…"  
"Yes but you have to start preparing now" she said seriously.  
Harry was not going to argue with her as he knew that he could not win, so he just blocked out what she was saying and just nodded occasionally so she thought that he was still listening.

Harry looked at his list to see what he needed as he walked into Flourish and Blotts the bookstore.  
He had decided to continue with the lessons that were needed to be an Auror, minus Potions, even though he couldn't follow that career anymore.  
They were the most interesting lessons anyway, so it didn't matter that much if they were the same as his original lesson plan.  
He was doing Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology.

Ron was also taking the same subjects as Harry, but unless he decided to be friends with him again, Harry was going to be alone for some of the some of the lessons. Maybe it would be a repeat of his fourth year in which he and Ron were arguing, and if it was, then Harry would had a very miserable year ahead of him.

Hermione was taking History of Magic, Transfiguration, Arithmacy, Ancient Runes, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Potions.  
The only thing that she had dropped was Astronomy. Harry hadn't expected her to drop any subjects at all, but he had his suspicions that it was because of the Exceeds Expectations mark that she was disappointed with.  
By not taking the subject it was Hermione's way of deifying the school and examiner, but Harry didn't understand this so he left her to do what she wanted.

After they had finished buying all of their supplies, the group made its way back to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes with heavy bags in their arms.  
The shop was almost empty now since it was fast becoming dark and most people were returning to the safety of their homes.

As they walked through the front door feeling exhausted and frozen stiff, Fred looked up at them from the counter with a warm smile.  
He glanced at the clock on the wall, raised an eyebrow and then said in mock surprise.  
"Back already? You were only gone five hours!"

"Don't you dare start Fred, I'm not in the mood" Mrs Weasly warned as she placed some shopping bags on the counter "where is George?"  
"Upstairs re-lighting the fire, and hopefully opening a few bottles of Butterbeer for everyone since you all look as though you need some"  
"Sorry, but we can't stay," said Kingsley in his deep soothing voice "Harry has got to get back safely, and me and Tonks have to work a late shift tonight at the Ministry"  
"You can stay for just a bit longer can't you?" Fred persuaded.  
"Please, oh please!" begged Tonks pretending to be an excited child asking her parents permission.

Kingsley smiled down at the little girl jumping up and down by his feet and gave in.  
"OK, but just for an hour, then we all have to go" he said giving Fred a nod.

"Accio Butterbeer!" shouted Fred as he whipped his wand out.

There was a loud thud upstairs and a muffled shout of pain from George, then a crate of Butterbeer came smashing through the closed door and landed haphazardly on the counter knocking off a few shopping bags.  
"Oops…" Fred said as he looked at the hole in the door and the bags on the floor "ah well – Reparo!" The hole instantly repaired itself and the door looked as good as new.  
It suddenly opened to reveal George on the side, who was rubbing the back of his head gingerly and wincing in pain.  
"Am I imagining things, or did I just get attacked by a load of Butterbeer?" he asked looking dazed.  
"Sorry 'bout that" Fred said apologetically, but then walked over to the crate with a big grin and pulled out a few bottles "Party anyone?"

Everyone looked expectantly at Mrs Weasley, knowing that they had to have her approval first.

"Well since we all missed Harry's Birthday last week, and the OWL results came yesterday, I think that a party is a great idea" said Mrs Weasly, her mood brightening as she beamed at everyone.

Half an hour later, they were all sitting comfortably around the roaring fire drinking Butterbeer (apart from Moody who was drinking from his hipflask) and watching some of Fred and George's fireworks whiz energetically around the room.

Moments ago Ron had expertly slipped out of the room without anyone but Harry noticing. It was obvious that he wanted to be alone so Harry decided not to follow and give him some space.

Harry sank deeper into the comfort of the squishy armchair with a bottle of Butterbeer clutched in his hand, and was just starting to relax when he saw Fred and George poke their heads round the door looking furtively around the room, as if to check that no one was looking in their direction.

Luckily everyone was staring in wonder at the dancing sparks on the ceiling made by the exploding fireworks above their heads, even Moody's magical eye was fixed on them.  
George made eye contact with Harry and gestured for him to quickly follow them down the stairs.

The explosion from a large firework created the perfect diversion for Harry to exit the room without being seen, so he casually got out of his chair and edged towards the door.

Curious, Harry walked down the stairs and into the shop where Fred and George were waiting with their lurid green dragon skin jackets on. Both faces were lit with excitement and they were wearing their trademark mischievous grins.  
"Thought we ought to let you in on a little secret" said Fred  
"We're going down Knockturn alley, do you want to come?" asked George in an excited whisper "This is the second time we've ever been down there, but we already know our way around"

"Er - erm - I don't know - It's not exactly a place I would like to visit again" Harry replied a little too hastily.  
"Oh come on, no one will realise that we've gone" Fred said slyly.  
"Plus we just saw Ron walking in that direction, and you know how dangerous it is to be alone and unprotected this late at night" said George with a smug smile as he knew this would finally persuade Harry to come with them.

"I don't believe I'm saying this, but OK, I'll come" Harry sighed, feeling guilty that he let Ron walk off in the first place and also feeling responsible for his safety.  
"Off we go then!" Fred cheerfully said as he headed towards the door.

A few minutes later they were heading down the lamp lit streets of Diagon Alley towards Knockturn Alley.  
Harry was having trouble keeping up with Fred and George as they were clearly excited and were walking at a very brisk pace.

"So, you two are finally in the Order huh?" Harry asked in a hushed whisper, even though he wasn't sure why he was keeping his voice so low.  
"Yep" George said proudly "joined the moment the school year ended"  
"Why at the end of year?" Harry asked puzzled.  
"Even though we left school earlier, Mum wouldn't let us join till it was official that we had left, and she was still wouldn't let us become members until Dad stepped in and persuaded her otherwise" Fred said casually, twirling his wand between his fingers.

"As a sort of initiation, we treated ourselves to these jackets with our own well earned money" George said pointing at his and Fred's scaly green coats.  
"Great for deflecting minor spells since they're made of Dragon scales, but that doesn't mean they can protect us from spells like the Avada Kadavra or anything like that"  
"Since they're just jackets and not whole body suits, it also means that any other parts of our bodies are as vulnerable as usual"

"I could do with one of those" Harry joked as they entered Knockturn Alley, where there were only a few dim lamps to light up the dark shops, and an instant chill crept up Harry's spine.

"Why did you want to come down here anyway?" Harry asked quietly as he glanced around at the towering buildings on either side of him that made him feel enclosed and suffocated.

"Just to browse the shops for special ingredients that could be useful in some of our future joke shop merchandise" said Fred as he jingled the coins in his pocket.  
"Knowing you, special means illeg-"  
"Hem hem"

Harry sharply spun around thinking for a second that it was Dolores Umbridge, previous High Inquisitor at Hogwarts.

"Where do you think your going?" Lupin asked as he stepped out from under his invisibility cloak.

"To find Ron" George immediately lied, even though he still had a look of shock on his face at he sight of Lupin. Apparently it had become a second nature for them to automatically lie when questioned.  
"It was a rhetorical question" he said smiling slightly "I know exactly where you're going and why so there is no need to try and deceive me"

"I forgot that you were following me" Harry said smiling at Lupin, but stopped when he glanced sideways at Fred and George who were glaring angrily at him.

"Something's not right here…haven't you noticed how quiet it is, and that there is no one around?" Lupin said suspiciously "Knockturn Alley is normally buzzing with activity this late at night… I want you three to head back to the shop," he requested "while I continue to search for Ron.  
"But we can look for him faster with more people!" Harry protested.

"No need to call out the search party, he's over there" Fred said pointing down the dark alley.

Harry could just make out Ron's red hair in the distance as he walked under a dusty street lamp.

"RON!" Harry shouted cupping his hands around his mouth to sound louder.  
"Keep your voice down Harry!" Lupin warned looking warily around.

When Ron didn't turn round in response, Harry broke into a run to catch up with him.  
"Harry NO! Stay here!" Lupin called from behind, but Harry wasn't listening since he was half way down the alley already.  
"Ron!" Harry called again.

This time he turned around to face Harry wearing a scowl on his face.  
"Ron, why are you down here?" Harry asked panting slightly from his short run.  
"Harry, I told you to stay where you were" Lupin said sternly placing a hand on Harry's shoulder after he had caught up with him "it's dangerous out here, you know that"  
"Yeah, but he's with us" Fred said reassuringly from behind.  
"Your safe with us around to protect you" George said giving Harry a wink.

Harry looked back at Ron who was still scowling at him with great dislike, which was usually reserved just for Malfoy.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked concerned.

Distracted, Ron squinted over Harry's shoulder at something in the distance, and then suddenly turned so pale his freckles disappeared and his eyes opened wide in horror.

A green light lit up the entire alley and everyone was bathed in a ghostly glow.

"Darkmark!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heh, sorry folks, another pause in the flow of this story.  
The saying 'calm before the storm' applies to this chapter.  
Things are gonna heat up!

Just thought I ought to tell you, the Darkmark is being used as a warning in this chapter.  
It's to show the presence of the Deatheaters and it signifies that there is going to be an attack.  
Plus it was sent up for a reason, which you will find out about muuuuuuch later on in the story. It is only slightly important, so don't go crazy trying to figure it all out.

I know it can get frustrating when you want to read the next part soon, i really do understand, but i only post one chapter per week, so i can keep ahead in my writing.

I'm actually starting to panic a bit now. I've been working on chapter 11 for the past two or three months now, and i'm not progressing.  
It's very complicated to write, but i'm trying anyway. I just need to find the time between schoolwork and exams to finish it.


	9. Chapter 9

Oops, this chapter is a bit late. I forgot to post it before I left to go on a week long school trip to Wales, where there was no computer… '0' …oh the horror!

But here it is now, your weekly-recommended dosage of Harry Potter. Hope you didn't all have withdrawal symptoms…

**-**

**Chapter 9**

"Get behind me!" Lupin shouted at the rest of the group.  
Harry only briefly saw the familiar glittering emerald stars forming together to create a gigantic skull with a snake protruding from it's mouth like a tongue, before he was roughly pushed backwards by Lupin.

Harry withdrew his wand at the same time as Ron and they both prepared to fight whatever was about to happen. Ron's angry expression had vanished and was now replaced by the look of grim determination.

Fred and George had also drawn their wands and were standing in defensive stance on either side of Harry to protect him.

A chorus of loud cracks echoed around the small and dingy alleyway as a circle of Deatheaters apparated around them.  
Harry could see that they were hopelessly outnumbered because there were at least ten Deatheaters and only four of them, so the situation did not look favourable.  
The Darkmark dissolved in the sky, plunging them once more into shadow.

One Deatheater took a step forwards towards them so Lupin focused his attention on the figure and pointed his wand at the person's chest as a threat.

"There is no point in being foolish, Remus" the man spoke in a raspy voice as he pulled his mask away to reveal a pale face with sharp blue eyes, short blonde hair with a tint of grey, and a scar slashed across his cheek. "Simply give us Potter, and no one will get hurt"

"Ah, but Avery, you underestimate us" Lupin replied showing his familiarity to this particular DeathEater, his eyes flaring in anger "and do you really think that I would hand over Harry without a fight?"  
"So be it! Stupefy!" Avery hissed sending a stunning spell speeding at Lupin.

Due to quick reactions, the spell missed him by inches.  
But instead of hitting Lupin, the jet of red light whizzed past and slammed directly into Fred's chest.

Fred staggered backwards slightly because of the impact, but apart from that he seemed unaffected.  
He smiled gleefully before sending a stunner back at the Deatheater, who was standing still out of confusion and failed to react in time to the spell, so he fell to the floor unconscious.

"So glad we bought these" Fred sighed in relief as he gestured to his and George's Dragon hide jackets.

The surrounding Deatheaters quickly recovered from their surprise and all hell broke lose as a volley of spells was sent in the groups direction.

"PROTEGO!" Harry shouted, creating an invisible shield that reflected the many curses aimed at him and causing them to ricochet off at all angles.

Everything became unreal disorientated as Deatheaters darted across his vision and colourful lights flashed past like fireworks.  
He could hear nothing but indistinguishable shouts, bangs, and the breaking of glass from the surrounding shop windows.

Harry had been separated from Lupin and the twins, who were managing to holding off many of the Deatheaters single handily, but he briefly caught a glimpse of Ron through the many swishing black cloaks, quite a distance away at the other end of the alley.  
Using his wand, as well as his body parts, he fought his way through the confusing assembly of black towards him at a full run, knocking many of the enemy over in surprise as they tried to attack.

A deadly looking silver arrow shot at Harry and he dodged sideways. It only just missed and he felt the extreme heat emanating from it as it passed.  
Unluckily it grazed his face and created a deep slash that instantly started to sting.  
Blood splattered onto his T-shirt and he realised that he was wearing bright red, which was not a very smart colour to be wearing at the moment as it made him seem fluorescent among the mass of black, and an open target.

Finally breaking away from the main battle, into the open alley and fresh air, he stopped short as he spotted Ron again.

Harry could now see that Ron was fighting two Deatheaters by himself under a street lamp and was about to be cornered against the wall of one of the shops.

He appeared to be losing badly as he was backing warily away and looked hurt as he had a trickle of blood seeping slowly down his head, matting his hair and oozing down the side of his face.

"Impedimenta!" one of the Deatheaters shouted, and Ron was thrown backward off his feet, into the solid brick wall with such force that he was winded, and dropped onto his hands and knees.

His wand clattered to the cobble stone floor and rolled until it was a few metres away and out of reach in the shadows.

Harry just stood frozen to the spot, not being able to react due to his brain being numb and his wand hand lying limp at his side.  
It felt as though he were watching a film, where he could only watch from the sidelines with baited breath and popcorn, not able to do anything to change the main characters predicament.

The Deatheaters were closing in on Ron now, and he had a look of utter helplessness on his face.

"_Avada-_"  
Ron closed his eyes and screwed his face up bracing himself to die.  
"_Kada-_"  
"EXPELLIARMUS! Harry roared, finally regaining control and disarming the Deatheater with its wand pointed at Ron's heart.

"STUPEFY!" he bellowed quickly afterwards, making the man crumple to the floor.

The second Deatheater whirled around to face Harry with his wand raised, but Ron tackled him around the legs from behind and brought him crashing to the floor.

Harry just stared in amazement, as he had never seen Ron this determined before and he had never guessed that Ron was so strong, since he was easily pinning the man to the floor with one hand.

"Harry – what are you waiting for? Stun him!"  
"Oh right – Stupefy!"  
The Deatheater stopped moving and became silent, so Ron got to his feet and retrieved his wand.

Turning to Harry, Ron flashed him a quick grin as he wiped the blood off his face.  
"Thanks"  
"Er - no problem…" Harry said back feeling dazed.  
"CRUCIO!" someone shouted from behind.  
"Watch out!" Ron bellowed pointing over Harry's shoulder.

Momentarily off guard, Harry had no time to move and felt the unforgivable curse slam into him.

Harry screamed as pain ripped through his body and it felt as if he were being stabbed repeatedly and his skin was on fire.  
Falling to his knees and dropping his wand, he could no longer differentiate between the sky and ground so he curled tightly up into a ball, willing to black out.

The curse lifted, leaving Harry panting on the floor with the sound of blood pounding in his ears.

"NO! Leave him alone!" Ron shouted, somewhere above Harry.  
"Foolish boy! Out of my way! Stupefy!"  
Harry was briefly aware of Ron's limp form falling to the floor next to him.

Dimly, as though from far away, he heard a loud bang and then suddenly felt ropes wind their way around his mouth, wrists and ankles.

Harry struggled for a few seconds, but then gave up because he knew that it was no use, and every single muscle in his body was aching due to the after-effects of the Cruciatus curse making him feel physically and mentally exhausted.

"Mobilicorpus" the unknown person hissed just out of Harry's line of vision, so he still couldn't see his captor.

Harry felt as if he were attached to invisible strings, which were pulling him upright into a standing potion, but his feet weren't able to touch the floor because he was being levitated. He had seen Snape being controlled in exactly the same way three years ago by Lupin.

"You're lucky enough to have the honour of meeting my Master…yet again" the person whispered in his ear.

It finally dawned on Harry that if Voldermort managed to acquire him, he would most certainly die, but not before being tortured for information and just for the fun of it.  
Too many innocent people would get hurt, or worse, if Voldermort learnt everything that Harry knew about the Order of the Phoenix and the prophecy.

He started to frantically thrash against his bonds again in attempt to break free.  
The Deatheater let out a harsh laugh at his efforts - but suddenly broke off to gasp in surprise and a soft thud followed.

Harry couldn't turn to see what was happening, so he continued to float on the spot waiting with anticipation while holding his breath.

"This is no place to hang around Harry!" George joked as he walked around Harry to face him.  
The rope gagging Harry prevented him from swearing at George for joking at such a bad time, so he just gave an angry muffled yell.

"Your welcome" said George sarcastically "Diffindo! Finite!"  
Waving his wand the ropes binding Harry cut away and the counter curse ended the spell holding him upright, so he collapsed forwards onto his hands and knees.

Harry shakily got to his feet and picked up his wand.  
George let out a choked gasp as he saw Ron's still form on the floor and quickly bent down over to him to check if he was still alive.

"What happened to him?"  
"Just stunned, I think" Harry said, walking gingerly over to them.  
"Enervate" George muttered pointing his wand at Ron's chest.

Ron's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright.  
"Harry!" he shouted.  
"It's all right Ron, I'm here"

Ron looked round at Harry in surprise.  
"Wh-What? Are you OK?"  
"Fine" Harry lied just to make Ron relax.

George looked around cautiously and got to his feet.  
"I've got to get back to the fight, I have no clue where Lupin is, but I left Fred alone with three Deatheaters to come find you"

"Then why are we wasting time" Ron exclaimed standing up hastily.  
"Wait a second, where do you think you're going" George said placing a hand on Rons chest to keep him from going any further "You and Harry need to stay here where it's safer and"  
"NO" Ron shouted "I'm not staying here while you and Fred are off fighting for your lives! Just cause i'm your little brother, it doesn't mean that you have to protect me"

George looked at Ron's determined expression in surprise for a few seconds, but then relaxed and let out a small sigh.

"Ok, you can come...but if you get hurt...i'll kill you...because Mum will want to kill me...and it'll turn into a vicious cycle of killing" George said making strangling gestures in the air.  
Harry and Ron let out a small laugh, but they both sounded hollow.

Taking a deep calming breath, Harry turned back towards the battle, and what could be all of their deaths, in the disatnce.  
The occasional coloured flash of light penertrated the darkness, like a lightening storm on the horizon.

No one in their right mind would go into the heart of a lightening storm.

That proved that they were all slightly crazy.

"Ok, lets go" George shouted and gave the best battle cry he could, as a last minute joke to lighten their spirits.  
All three of them broke into a run, heading into the darkness towards the fight at the other end of the alley, with wands raised.

The closer they came, the more light became available from the dim street lamps that shed their pale glow on the scene in front of them.

Deatheaters could be spotted littering the floor, unmoving and harmless.  
There were only five Deatheaters still standing and Harry could see Lupin in the distance duelling with three Deatheaters at once.  
While Fred was fighting two, with another one unconscious at his feet.

"Petrificus Totalus!" George yelled at one of the Deatheaters, making his arms and legs snap together and causing him to fall over backwards.

"Tarantallegra!" Harry shouted at the remaining Deatheater as he tried to run away in fear.  
He started a sort of frenzied tap dance on the spot and ended up tripping over his own long robes and falling flat on his face.

Ron, Fred and George all burst out laughing and Harry quickly shot a shunning spell at the Deatheater on the floor, whose legs were jerking wildly around, but then fell still.

"Did you learn that from Malfoy, when he used it on you during the Duelling Club in the second year?" Ron asked once he had finished laughing.  
"Yeah, and I saw a Deatheater use it on Neville in the Department of M-" Harry stopped short, not wanting to discuss the events that happened the night of Sirius' death.

Sensing an awkward moment, Fred tried to lighten it.  
"About time you got here, I didn't think that you were coming back!" he said smiling at George "Sadly, they seem to have discovered the weakness of our dragon scale jackets bro, they now know that we're vulnerable in other places, I got hit with an Impedimenta jinx just before you got back, and man, am I going to have bruises tomor–"

Fred never had the chance to finish his sentence as he was unexpectedly struck with a stunner in the face and keeled over sideways.

Whirling around in surprise, Harry discovered that one of the Deatheaters that Lupin had previously been fighting with, had broken away and successfully revived most of his fellows.

There were now seven very angry Deatheaters standing together and leering menacingly at Harry. All of them had their wands aimed at him.

On Harry's right George raised his wand and was about to utter a spell, but one of the Deatheaters beat him to it, and Harry could tell by the raspy voice that it was Avery.

"Flamma Sagitto!"

A shining silver arrow that lit up the whole alley flew at George's head, and Harry knew that if it hit him, it would be fatal, as he had seen how much damage it could do before.

All George could do was stare in alarm at the arrow flying directly at his face, he seemed to be paralysed with fear.

Harry and Ron just stood still watching the deadly arrows progress through the air.  
Everything was in slow motion and Harry was reminded of the moment of Sirius' death in the Department of Mysteries.

He couldn't watch anyone else that he cared about die, as it would shatter the world around him.

He made his mind up in a split second and stepped sideways in front of George and into the path of the arrow.

"NO!" Four different people cried simultaneously, as the spell was about to make contact.

One of the voices was Ron, who looked terrified.

Another was George's as he tried in vain to push Harry out of the way.

The third one was a cry of dismay from Avery, since it was obvious that Voldermort wanted Harry captured alive.

The final voice was Lupin's, who lunged out of nowhere, between Harry and the lethal spell.

-

I'm really evil to you guys aren't I?

I just love using cliffies, they are so much fun to write. Hehehe…

Anyway, it's time forme to passmy knowledge to you.

I'll start of with the name of the arrow spell.

'**Flamma Sagitto'**- I used Latin for this spell (and a few others in future chapters)  
I'll explain the meanings of each word to prove I did some intense research for my story.

**flamma** -ae f. a flame , blazing fire; Transf.a source of light, torch, star, lightning; luster, glitter; the fire or glow of passion; devouring flame, destruction.

**sagitto** -are to shoot arrows.

Sadly, I don't know any Latin myself so I had to look it all up, so it might be familiar because other people have done the exact same thing!


	10. Chapter 10

OH DAMN!

I thought that I had posted this chapter up earlier, but it appears that I didn't. So again, sorry this is late, it was a simple mistake.

Sadly, I **_STILL_** haven't finished chapter 11, and i'm furious at myself.  
I feel like crying, so i need a small break to catch up.  
Sorry everyone ... just give me some time and i'll make it up to you all when i come back.

**I _promise_ that i will never abandon this story. Its my first ever fan fic, and i'm loyal to it. So i will come back, honest. **

Anyway, special thanks to **Lauren, Treck, Taylor and (?)** for letting me know that you're all reading this fic..**  
**  
-

**Chapter 10**

The spell slammed into his chest, since he was taller than either Harry or George. There was a sizzling sound on contact and the force knocked him backward into Harry and George so they all fell over on top of each other.

While struggling to free himself from the tangle of limbs, Harry heard familiar shouts from the Order members arriving, and the sound of spells flying around, but he was not paying attention to anything  
around him. He was more concerned about the figure on ground in front of him.

Lupin was lying there with his eyes closed.  
There was a large scorch mark on his chest where the searing arrow had hit and blood was slowly starting to ooze from the wound.

Harry crawled around to his side to see if he was breathing.  
Thankfully he was, but it was very shallow.

Harry tried speaking to him to check if he was conscious.  
"Can you hear me?"

Lupin seemed to have heard because he half opened his eyes and looked at Harry with an unfocused gaze.

"go…run" he said so quietly that Harry had to come closer to hear.  
"No, I'm not leaving you here like this, we need to try and get you to St. Mungo's"  
"go…" Lupin repeated again.  
His eyes slowly closed, and Harry thought for a second that he had died, but he was still breathing meaning that he had just passed out.

Harry shouted in surprise as someone from behind hit him with a full body bind curse and he fell over sideways as stiff as a board.

A masked face leaned down over him and Harry could do nothing but stare back, he couldn't even utter an insult since his mouth was sealed shut.

There was a flash of red light and the Deatheater mask disappeared from his view and was replaced by the scarred face of Mad-eye Moody, and Harry had never been so happy to see his creepy electric blue eye spinning in it's socket.

Moody muttered the counter curse and Harry became flexible once more.  
"You all right boy?" he asked.

Harry didn't answer, instead he rushed back to Lupin's side.  
"We need to get him to St.Mungo's! Now!"  
"What happened?" Moody asked sternly as he looked down a Lupin's wound with concern.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Moody cut him off with a low growl.  
"Never mind, it doesn't matter, we haven't got the time for explanations"

Harry closed his mouth and looked back down at Lupin.  
"Right then, stand back" Moody said grimly while doing a complicated movement with his wand "Appareo stretcher!"

A floating stretcher magically appeared next to Lupin and Moody levitated him onto it.

"The Ministry's going to have my head for this, but it's for Remus's sake and I still owe him big time" he muttered under his breath whilst stooping down with great effort and picking up a fragment of loose cobble stone off the floor.

He tapped it with his wand and said the spell "Portus"  
The rock glowed blue and vibrated in Moody's hand for a few seconds, then it returned to normal.

"Stay here and keep your eyes open. Most of the cowardly Deatheaters have disapparated but there are still a few lurking about that the Order haven't chased off… Oh and give a message to Molly that I've gone to St.Mungo's with Remus, it looks as though he'll pull through"

And with that, he touched the rock portkey to Lupin's hand and they both disappeared in a whirl of wind, leaving Harry alone sitting on the cold floor.

After a few minutes, George appeared at his side and crouched down to speak to him.  
"Is Lupin going to be all right?" he asked looking concerned.  
"I don't know…h- he shouldn't have taken that spell for me" Harry replied, his voice cracking with emotion.  
"What the hell were you thinking when you stepped in front of that spell?" George added ludicrously.  
"I'm not really sure…I guess…it was because you're family to me…and I didn't want you to get hurt" Harry said quietly not looking at George "I don't know why Lupin did it though"

George dropped his voice down low and leaned closer to Harry.  
"Well, it's probably got something to do with the Prophecy"  
Harry head snapped up and he looked directly into George's face with surprise.

"How do you know about that?"  
"Need to know basis for all Order members, but I'm still finding it hard to believe that prophecies actually exist and how much everyone is counting on you to fulfil yours" he said with disbelief. "Do Ron and Hermione know yet? I tried dropping hints about it, but they're either playing dumb, or they just don't know yet"  
"No, they don't know what the prophecy said, and I'm not sure if I should tell them"  
"Don't worry, me and Fred won't say a thing to them, that entirely up to you" he said sympathetically.  
"That reminds me, I've got to go and revive Fred" George added as he got to his feet "back soon"

Harry pulled his knees up into his chest and sat staring intensely at the floor, even though he wasn't really seeing it.  
As George started to walk away, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder.  
"I'm sure Lupin will be fine"

Harry just nodded dully, but then he realised something and quickly asked.  
"What happened to Ron?"

George whizzed around and gave a huge grin while he puffed out his chest proudly.  
"I can now admit that I am in fact related to him"  
"Why?" Harry asked curiously.  
"You should have seen it! He attacked Avery with everything he had!  
Bit stupid really since he was completely outnumbered…but he created the perfect distraction for the Order members to sneak up behind the Deatheaters and make a surprise attack!"

"Where is he now – is he all right?"  
"Mum's fussing over him somewhere down the other end of the alley because he got hit with a nasty Reducto curse"  
"Ohhh, that had to hurt" Harry said cringing at the thought of being slammed into by that particular spell.  
"He'll be fine" he said dismissively. "Wait a second…wasn't I meant to be doing something?" George asked looking puzzled.  
"Fred?" Harry reminded him.  
"Oh yeah! You had better go see my Mum about that cut on your face, but be warned, she's not in a very good mood" he said as he walked over to Fred who was lying a few metres away.

Harry got to his feet and slowly made his way down Knockturn alley in the direction of Diagon alley.

In the pale lamp glow Harry could see the devastating destruction left behind by the fight.  
Massive craters were randomly scattered across the dismal scenery, blasted into the cobbled floor and leaving holes in the walls of surrounding buildings.  
Every single shop window in the immediate area had been smashed leaving sparkling crystals on the floor that glinted innocently at Harry as walked over them, making crunching sounds.

A flash of pink ahead of him caught his eye and he raised his wand, thinking that it was an incoming spell.  
It turned out to be Tonks, who was back in the form Harry knew best, with short and spiky pink hair.  
She was busy disarming and binding a few of the unconscious Deatheaters on the floor, along with another figure.  
To his confusion, he saw that it was Mr Weasley.  
Harry didn't want to distract either of them so he didn't stop to ask questions.  
_When did Mr Weasley arrive?_ Harry asked himself.  
Harry then realised that Mr Weasley had been close by the whole time.  
Mrs Weasley had previously told him that he was staying at the Leaky Cauldron.  
Now that everything made sense, Harry dismissed those thoughts and turned back to his mission of getting to Mrs Weasley safely.

As Harry neared the end of Knockturn Alley, he could distinctly hear Mrs Weasley's angry voice in the distance.  
George's comment that she was in a bad mood was an understatement. She sounded furious.

Mrs Weasley and Ron came into view as he rounded the corner into Diagon Alley, and so did a whole group of people. Some of them were still in their pyjamas, standing and craning their necks to get a better look down Knockturn Alley.  
Harry assumed that they were curious shop owners that had come out to investigate what all the commotion was about.  
As soon as the crowd saw him they broke into excited chatter and some of them openly pointed at his scar.

Averting his eyes and flattening down his hair to cover his forehead, Harry made his way over to Mrs Weasly who was standing in a clearance, away from the crowd.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING GOING DOWN THERE?" Mrs Weasly screamed at Ron, who was cowering under his mother's fury.  
Harry quickly changed his mind about letting her see him, because he didn't feel like facing her wrath at this particular moment.

He stood behind her for a few seconds having an internal struggle about his choice to either run for the hills or to face her and get it over with.  
But he never had the chance to decide because Ron spotted him over his mother's head, since he was taller than her, and called "Harry!" knowing that his mother's attention would switch from him to Harry and so he could escape her clutches.

Mrs Weasley spun around on the spot and let out a muffled scream when she saw Harry standing behind her and instantly pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.  
"Are you all right?" she asked him frantically.  
"Mmhm…" was all Harry could say since his face was tightly pressed against her jumper.

She let go of him and Harry gratefully sucked in oxygen.  
Behind Mrs Weasley, Ron was silently tip toeing away from her hoping not to be noticed, but Harry decided to re-pay the 'favour' by calling out to him.  
"Where are you going Ron?"

Mrs Weasley whipped around and caught Ron by the scruff of his neck, reeling him in backwards.  
"Not so fast" Mrs Weasley snarled at him.

Ron threw Harry a glare but Harry just smirked back and eventually he broke into a grin and started laughing.

"You two are going to be in so much trouble when we get home!" Mrs Weasley ranted "It's a good job that your brothers have their own place to stay" she said waving a finger at Ron "because I would have kicked them out of the house for leading Harry astray and taking him down Knockturn Alley unprotected"  
"You're making me sound like a innocent little child" Harry said rolling his eyes.  
"You're not a child, and as I've said before, you're not an adult either!"

Harry opened his mouth to protest but he saw Ron in the background waving his arms frantically at him and mouthing 'No! No! Don't argue!' so he closed his mouth and looked angrily down at the floor.

"Have either of you seen Alastor?" Mrs Weasly asked calmly.  
"Yeah, Moody asked me to tell you that he's taken Lupin to St.Mungo's" Harry said.

Mrs Weasly turned pale and worriedly asked, "Is Remus hurt bad?"  
"Moody said that he'll pull through, but Lupin looked really bad before he left," Harry said miserably "he got hit in the chest with some sort of magic arrow"

At this point Harry turned to Ron.  
"George told me what happened, are you all right?"  
"Oh, I'm fine, I just got a bit winded and bruised"

His mother turned to him angrily, remembering what she had been yelling at him before.  
"That was extremely reckless Ronald Weasley! I still can't believe that you were that stupid to think you could take on seven Deatheaters at once! You could have been seriously hurt, or worse…you could…you could have d-died…" she sobbed, breaking down into floods of tears and pulling Ron into a motherly vice like grip hug.

Ron stood looking very shocked for a second but then he seemed to relax and returned the warm hug as he tried to comfort her.

Harry turned away feeling that it was a personal family moment, but Mrs Weasley grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hug as well.

He wanted to stay in the embrace forever…wrapped in Mrs Weasley's arms, warm and safe, clinging onto her like a life support…forgetting reality…no past, no present, and no future…was this what it felt like to have a mother?

There was a bright white flash and instantly Mrs Weasley had her wand out expecting an attack.  
As she sharply pulled away the warmth Harry had experienced vanished only to be replaced by a chilling breeze on his skin making him shiver slightly.

"Excuse me! Harry Potter!" a voice shouted from behind.

As Harry whirled around another blinding flash went off in his face.  
Dazed, he rubbed his eyes to get rid of the spots and looked up to see an energetic old man sporting a camera around his neck, and holding a piece of parchment and quill.

"I'm with the Daily Prophet newspaper, and I was wondering if you could answer some questions about tonight's mysterious events?"  
"No he most certainly will not!" Mrs Weasley shouted at the man.  
"And who are you?" The man asked rudely.  
"It's none of your business!" she snapped back, as she steered Harry and Ron through the crowd of spectators' back towards the shop.  
"Just ignore them dear" she said in a low voice to Harry.

Keeping their heads down all the way, they made it back to the empty shop and Harry and Ron were about to collapse into the comfy looking armchairs when Mrs Weasley pulled them to one side.

"I need to get you healed up!" she said looking them both up and down while brandishing her wand.  
Pressing the tip lightly to the cut on Harry's face, he felt a slight tingle and then it healed completely.  
"I know quite a few good healing spells" Mrs Weasley said with a smile on her face seemingly satisfied.  
"You have to know these sort of things with seven accident prone children to raise" She said as she gestured to Ron and healed his head, whilst also making the bloodstains vanish.

Loud footsteps could be heard running up the stairs.  
Everyone turned to look at the door as it burst open and in ran Ginny followed closely by Hermione.

Ginny instantly ran over to her brother and tackled him with a hug as tears of relief slid down her face.

"Are you both all right!" Hermione shrieked as soon as she entered the room "Nobody knew where you were! We thought that something terrible had happened! I-I-"  
"We're fine Hermione" Ron said rolling his eyes after Ginny had eventually let him go.

Hermione seemed to be struggling with her emotions internally. She looked at Ron, then at Harry, back at Ron, and then Harry again. She looked as though she were making her mind up about something.

Finally, she smiled at Harry and flung her arms around him in a hug.

Harry stiffened in surprise and looked down questioningly at the top of her bushy brown hair.

She let go and took a step backwards with her face turning scarlet.

"Er, well, I think I ought to be getting you back to the headquarters" Mrs Weasley said trying to pretend that she had not just witnessed anything peculiar "before you can cause anymore troub-"  
"Number Twelve Grimmauld Place!"

Harry spun around just in time to see Ron disappearing into the fireplace with a burst of green flame.  
"Huh? Is he in a hurry to get back or something?" Harry asked Hermione.  
Hermione's confused face mirrored Harry's. He had no idea what was going on, and by the looks of it, neither did she.

Looking over at Ginny, he noticed that she seemed to be deep in thought and was staring at the last place she had seen her brother before he disappeared into the fire.

Wanting to be the first to question Ron when he got back, Harry walked over to the fireplace and took a handful of floo powder.

With a last look at Hermione's confused expression and Ginny's thoughtful one, he disappeared in a whirl of flame back to Grimmauld Place.

-

Tada! _Lupin lives!_ I just couldn't kill him off. How could any of you think that i could! I'm appalled at you all!  
Nah, i'm only joking...

Sooooo, it's bye from me for a little while, but i will return!  
C YA!  
Lots of love  
Katie


End file.
